The True Alliance
by VoldeMatt11
Summary: History is repeating itself in Panem. Shortly after The Mockingjay, Katniss Everdeen, passed away, the Capitol unleashed the monster it had been building up for the past 50 years. Taking over the nation once more, newly elected president Alecta Salt reinstates the Treaty of Treason and starts up the Hunger Games once more. The lives of four friends may change forever. Quarter Quell
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: Okay, so I thought doing one of these would be kind of fun. I am in no way near an expert writer; I'm actually an exercise science major, so quite the opposite really! I did however get A's in my high school English classes. That's good enough, right? Anyways, here's my shot at my first ever fanfic. Like I said, not a great writer, so go easy on the reviews! Oh yeah, I DO NOT own **_**The Hunger Games**_**, blah blah blah…**

_History is repeating itself in the nation of Panem. Shortly after The Mockingjay, Katniss Everdeen, passed away, the Capitol unleashed the monster it had been building up for the past 50 years. Finally destroying District 13 once and for all, the Capitol took control over the Districts and reinstated The Treaty of Treason and raised the Hunger Games from its ashes. Starting where it left off, the 76__th__ Games brought the same intensity and suspense the previous ones brought, and the phenomenon was reborn. Twenty-five years later, the 100__th__ Games are about to begin. Thus beginning the Fourth Quarter Quell…_

Pacing back and forth in her study, President Alecta Salt continued to ponder how she was going to approach the announcement for the Quarter Quell later on that evening. To eliminate all possible haunting memories, the rebels destroyed every item that related to the previous Games, including the envelopes storing the Quarter Quell announcements. Therefore, the Capitol had to create a new set of twists and turns to help enlist the new series of Quells.

President Salt quickly ceased her pacing and stood staring at the envelope in her hands. She was extremely anxious to see how the citizens of the Capitol would take the potentially controversial announcement about to play forth.

However, Alecta Salt truly didn't have anything to worry about. Ever since she helped the Capitol bounce back from the grueling and dumpy state it was in 25 years ago, the citizens have obsessed over her. Everything is back to normal. The power. The entertainment. The riches. Even if the announcement doesn't go well, they would be right back to worshiping her the very next day.

Her second in command stepped in a few moments later to give her a five minute warning. She left her study to make her way to the thousands of Capitol citizens awaiting her.

She approached the microphone and began, "Welcome citizens of Panem and Happy Hunger Games! It is my great honor to welcome you to the reading of the card for the 4th Quarter Quell." She soaked in the roaring applause and deafening cheers from the crowd then continued. "In the proud history of our country, we have had three previous Quells to shine light upon. This begins this year's reading of the card":

"On the twenty-fifth anniversary, as a reminder to the rebels from the initial rebellion that their children were dying because of their choice to begin the violence, every district was made to hold an election and vote on the tributes who would represent it."

"On the fiftieth anniversary, as a reminder that two rebels died in the first rebellion for each Capitol citizen, every district was required to send twice as many tributes."

"On the disruptive and incomplete seventy-fifth anniversary, as a reminder to the rebels that even the strongest among them cannot overcome the power of the Capitol, the two tributes were reaped from their existing pool of victors."

"And now, we're called to honor the Fourth Quarter Quell. On the one-hundredth anniversary, as a celebration of the successful years of Games before the second rebellion by acknowledging the 50th anniversary of the Second Quell, twice as many tributes will be sent into the arena, once more. Adding to that, as a reminder that the surviving rebels were sent back to their individual districts after the violence ceased to live as one, remaining tributes from the same District will be declared victors. This ensures that each District will work and fight together instead of teaming up with others. This shows that separation between the Districts is key to avoid any future rebellion against the Capitol. You may also see this rule as part of the Capitol's mercy from the atrocity the Districts have inflicted upon it. Thank you."

She sits back to let the audience collect her rather long explanation, hoping she didn't bore them to death. But no, after a couple of seconds, the citizens are pouring over the recent announcement. They are ecstatic on the huge change in ways and the violence that will bring as the tributes not only are fighting for their lives, but their fellow District tributes, too. More passion. More intensity. More blood.

She ends with her last few statements, "District Reapings will begin in two months. The 48 tributes will be sent to the Capitol that same day. Thank you for your time. Happy Hunger Games, and may the odds be _ever_ in your favor…"


	2. Chapter 2

Ouch…Ouch… Ouch! All pleasantness from the dream I was having was suddenly washed away by the excessive pecking brought forth by Henrietta, one of the hens from our farm. I know what you're thinking, why would we name the animals we're preparing for slaughter? Well… you can thank my obnoxious little sisters to thank. Lilly just turned ten years old and Jordyn is the baby of the family at seven. They are also responsible for the ever-so intelligent names for the chickens and three of our horses.

I tousle Henri's feathers and she flutters away screeching. Perfect. I love messing with that thing, serves her right. She over-reacts to every little thing just like my mother. My mom and dad are the owners for this decent sized farm we live on. We have five cows (which my sisters surprisingly have not named), four horses, a bunch of chickens and hens, and three dogs.

Compared to the majority of District 10ers, we are fairly well off. Along with raising the animals on the farm, my family is responsible for hunting animals and sending them along to the butcher. That's where I come into play.

I feel very comfortable with my hunting equipment: my handy-dandy bow and arrows and a nice little knife. I'm not a perfect shot like the ever-famous Katniss Everdeen, but I do my job well. When I get in my kills, I'm also responsible for taking the carcasses to the butcher's house. This is potentially my favorite part of the hunting experience because I get to see one of my closest friends Violette Lester, the butcher's daughter.

With five older brothers, Vi is a tough-minded girl with dark brown hair and blue eyes. With her brutally honest personality and her dry sense of humor, she can bring out the worst in anybody. Most people overlook her due to her short structure, but seeing her clean and gut out a dead deer will make you wet yourself. She can get pretty intense. I think she's just putting on a show to be funny, but still, some of it she can't fake.

Closing out our circle of friends is the brother-sister pair of Dania and Damien Trexler. Dani is our age with Damien being a year younger. Their parents are the healers in our town and both Dani and Damien are very familiar with herbs and remedies used for healing. Dani is fairly tall for a girl with a pretty good build. With her brown hair and green eyes, she isn't a bad sight for the eyes. If she didn't spend all her time with medicines, she could put her strength to good use on my family's farm. She isn't afraid to speak whatever is on her mind and has a dark sense of humor.

Damien helps out on our farm as an assistant. I sometimes take him to help me hunt when I need an extra set of hands. He tends to be on the quite side, but can really open up and be very funny and outgoing. He's pretty powerful, too, being able to haul a dead deer over his back and transport it to Vi's house. Greatly resembling his sister's looks in a male body, he isn't a bad looker either.

All three of our families our very close and we came together in one setting to watch the playing for the reading of the card the day the Quarter Quell was announced. We were in awe and disbelief when we heard the reading. Although we weren't too affected with the results, it was still surprising. Like I said, compared to most people, my family was fairly well off and the other two follow closely behind. Our names were only in the bowl the very minimum number of times.

Oh yeah, time for my introduction. My name is Mathias Hampton. I'm your average 17 year old male at 5'11" and a fairly well build. I have dirty blonde hair with brown eyes. I'm very energetic, easy-going, and VERY sarcastic. My family and friends mean the world to me. We'd do anything for each other. (And that is not sarcasm.)


	3. Chapter 3

I'm making my way down the dusty trail to Dania and Damien's home thinking about the upcoming events about to play out today, when out of nowhere, Violette jumps from an overhanging tree and onto my back. I may have lost control of my bladder a little bit, I'm still not sure about this, but regardless, she scared me out of my pants! We both burst out laughing when I realize I'm in no immediate danger. Then reality hits us and we both realize that Reaping day isn't supposed to be filled with laughter, joy, and happiness. Well, until after the Reaping when the festivities commence. What a drag…

"You know, I think I'm going to volunteer this year. Just for the kicks," Vi jokes. "Oh yeah, you'd be EXTRAORDINARY in the Games. What's your talent again? Harassing people to death?" I retorted, chuckling a little as I said it. "Nah… I think I'll just pick up some of your mad skills and freak them all out by fluttering my arms, skipping, and sprinkling fairy dust everywhere," Vi says. "Have I ever mentioned you're probably the funniest person ever? Remind me to send you hundreds of parachutes once you're in the arena!" I joked back.

We continue this nonsense talk in order to lighten up our moods a bit until we reached their house. Once we got there, we realized our families were waiting for us in order to fit us into our clothing for the Reaping.

My mom struggles to fit me into a tight-fitting collared white shirt that I've had for years. Luckily, the brown pants are better fitting and are quite comfortable. Checking my reflection in the mirror, I can't help but admire my sexily good looks. Dang, I look good. Ahem, anyways, Vi is wearing a blue dress that goes well with her eyes. Dania and Damien are wearing matching colored dress and pants respectively. Only Dania could wear that strange brown dress in a stylish manner. Once we're all situated, we say our good-byes to our parents and our siblings and head out to the Reaping in the town square.

Thankfully, we don't have to travel very far to reach our Town Square. A fifteen minute walk is all it takes, which is not nearly as bad as what the 2 hour or more trips some people go through. We arrive at the scene, check in with our blood samples, and Vi and Dani head to the 17 year old girls section on one side, Damien goes to the boys 6 year old section on my side, and I find my way one group behind in the 17 year old boy section.

Once everyone is packed in, our District escort Icirrus Albah steps onto the stage along with our town mayor and the only living Victor we have, Monikka Donovan. Icirrus makes his way to the microphone. He looks awfully ridiculous with his turquoise hair and powdered white face. Ugh, makes me want to gag up my breakfast. Then comes the obnoxious Capitol voice, "Welcome my dear citizens of District 10 to the 100th Hunger Games! This year of the Quell should be amazingly exciting with its numerous twists and turns. Now… we shall begin with a video brought to us from the Capitol."

Ugh… this again. Blah, blah, blah, The Dark Days…. Blah, blah, blah, controversial 75th Games…. Blah, blah, blah, Second Rebellion…. Blah, blah, blah, Panem is back to where it started. Same old nonsense every year.

"Now, to begin the Reaping! We shall announce the tributes in girl, boy, girl, boy order," squeals Icirrus. I'm surprisingly not that nervous. Should I be? My name is only in there, what? Six times? I'm having flashbacks to last year's Reaping and am reminded of that both the boy and girl passed out on stage. Yeah… they were goners in the Bloodbath.

"Ladies first… District 10's first tribute for the 4th Quarter Quell is…" He twirls his hand in the bowl, grabs a slip, then…"Violette Lester!" No. Nuh uh. I didn't just hear that. I wanted to scream out. This can't be happening. Vi? Really? Her name was in there the same number of times as I was. Six out of thousands. No way, I look over to her. She is as white as a ghost. She releases Dani's hand, who looks equally as shocked and more-so distraught. When she makes her way up the stage and takes her place, I'm surprised how composed she is. She is one tough cookie after all. When I'm starting to begin to think that my chances aren't so slim after all, Icirrus is calling out the next tributes name. I missed what he said…

I look around to find the guy who's supposed to be walking to the stage, but I only find everybodies' eyes on me. Icirrus repeats himself, "Mathias Hampton, please!" I've been so caught up in Vi's fate that I missed the first calling of my own name! I don't understand… same chances as Vi, same results. That's when I realize how weak my legs really are. I wobble my way up to the stage. I get a look at Dani, she looks like she could lose it at any second. I cannot, however, see Damien in the crowd. I get up on stage and hug Violette. At least we can work together in this, and that's when the realization comes to both of us. Well, I think she realizes it because she's giving me the same look I'm giving her. The only way we can make it back alive is if we team up and with people we have been comfortable with our entire lives. We look for Dani and Damien again. We find both of them and by some strange miracle, they understand the expressions and messages we're trying to get across and take a deep breath and nod in agreement.

"How exciting! We must have two friends as tributes," Icirrus screams in recognition of our hug. "Now for the next tribute…." Directly following Icirrus' squeal of "Kendra Pennythought!" Dani screams, "I volunteer!" This brings the crowd to shock, seeing as our District hasn't had a volunteer in the 25 year start up in the Hunger Games. As she makes her way up next to us, we can see the fear and nervousness in her eyes, but we couldn't be more grateful for her bravery and courageousness she showed to help save our lives. She announces her name to the crowd then takes her place next to me.

"How astonishing! A volunteer!" he screams. I wish he would shut up and get on with it. He must've read my mind because then he says, "And the final tribute from District 10 shall be…. Damien Trexler! Oh dear me, a sibling? Even more thrilling!" Well that was easier than I thought. At least he didn't have to volunteer. Like that would be any easier… You can tell the pain in Dani's eyes over her younger brother's Reaping, but she knows that it's the best chance for all of us to come home alive.

Just as he's about to walk up to the stage, a voice from the boys 17 year old section yells out, "I volunteer!" What the…I've seen this kid a couple of times in school. His family owns a huge ranch, so he's even better off than our families. One of those rich kids, you know?

He comes up on stage and announces his name in a quiet, frightened, and awkward manner, "Uh… umm, I'm Ryann Hibbert." Dani, Vi, and I all glance at one another in disbelief. What in the world is he playing at?

I'm still trying to figure this kid out. Of course Icirrus is having a hay-day over our second volunteer in one day as he makes his closing. Soon enough, the Peacekeepers lead us back into the Town Hall building into our own individual rooms.

I'm sitting in the only chair in the small room thinking about all the commotion that just went down. Vi getting reaped, my reaping, Dani volunteering, Ryann suddenly making his way into our fates, my possibly death in the next month, etc… Suddenly, my very first set of visitors burst in: my family and Damien. Damien must have just finished saying his good-byes to Dani. His eyes are red and blotchy and he looks like a mess.

I tell him to pull himself together and to stay strong for his sister and Vi's sakes. My family is suffocating me with tears and circulation-cutting embraces. Jordyn and Lilly are wrapped around my waist and my parents' heads are rested on my shoulders. I wish they would stop all the gloom and despair; it doesn't really help me keep my composure.

They go on to offer their advice. Damien tells me to find a bow and keep an eye on the two girls. Really? That's it? He gives me a huge bear hug, and he loses control and begins his waterworks once more. My sisters continue to repeat that I should just do my best and try my hardest to win. Pure geniuses right there. But in all seriousness, I could start crying then and there. The tones from my innocent little sisters, knowing they'll be missing a brother figure in their lives, but I need to stay strong for them. Luckily, they can get by without my hunting. Damien, due to my training, will be able to fill in and double his overall wages as both farm hand and hunter.

My parents now begin consoling me. They tell me to fight strong. They remind me that I'm the most determined and mentally strong person they know. They also warm me to not lose control and not to become a savage. Easy for them to say… But once again, I begin to choke up. I love and respect my family and Damien so much, and dying in the arena would make me feel as if I would let them all down.

Finally our "happy" time is interrupted by the Peacekeepers as they drag the five of them out as they scream back their last "I love yous" and "Good lucks." Now the aloneness sinks in. I know no one else will visit me. Eventually, Icirrus comes and takes me to the car that will lead to the train.

As I enter the car, I discover that I am sharing it with Ryann. He's silent the entire time and doesn't seem to be keeping his composure too well. I just want to go off on him. All the emotion I've been through in the past hour needs to be redirected, and he would be the prime target, but we are still being watched by thousands of people as we board the train and yelling at my District partner wouldn't sit too well with sponsors.

Vi and Dani meet back up with me once we get settled in our breathtaking train. Chandeliers with crystals, diamonds, and gold glittering from the ceiling, fancy material covering the furniture, and a buffet of mostly unrecognizable food awaits us.

The girls tell me how their good-byes went as we sit and wait for our mentor to greet us. Like I said before, Monikka has been the only Victor District 10 has had in the past 25 years. She won the 88th Hunger Games. I remember watching her Games when I was five years old. They took place in an abandoned coal mine and ironically enough, the two District 12 tributes were the first to die in the Bloodbath. She won by being incredibly sly and clever. She stole other tributes food when they fell asleep due to the help of her night vision glasses she found at the cornucopia. Somehow, she even found a way to slit two of the Careers' throats when they fell asleep. Finally, when it came down to her and the boy from District 6 in the final two, she ran away from him and led his blinded-by-darkness self into a huge gaping hole where he plummeted to his death.

We've heard all about Monikka through mutual friends. She is very brutally honest and harsh. Worse than Violette. Her sarcasm and brutal humor can be like daggers thrown against a person's skin. Unfortunately, since our previously living Victors were reaped and killed in the 75th Games 50 years ago, Monikka is all we have as a mentor.

She isn't a very heavy drinker, but she was slightly tipsy when she came to greet us. "Welcome to hell you four. The past 10 years of tributes were hopeless sissies as I'm sure you were well aware seeing as all but five died in their bloodbaths. Please tell me you've got some guts enough to make it out the first ten seconds." She sits and stares at us, trying to collect our physiques and personalities. "Well, we'll see in time. Anyways, we need to watch the other District Reapings. Let's see who will be trying to kill you this year…"


	4. Chapter 4

We start with the District 1 Reapings. Ugh… here we go again with the ever-so modest names the District 1 parents give to their children…

District 1 – Luxury

**Boys**: _Plush Roberson_ (17)- Career. Blonde hair and brown eyes. Tall and built. Deady with a mace. Volunteered. Extremely brutal.

_Fab Monroe_ (16)- Career. Brown hair and green eyes. Short but muscular. Very quick and sly, great with maneuvering himself. Volunteered. Cocky, yet sympathetic.

**Girls**: _Emerald Miller_ (18)- Career. Red hair and shiny green eyes. Tall and lean. Slower, yet very powerful. Excellent with clubs and blunt objects. Volunteered. Ruthless.

_Glory Rhodes_ (15)- Career. Blonde hair and blue eyes. Medium and skinny. Great with knives. Didn't volunteer (still deadly). Arrogant.

District 2 – Masonry & Peacekeepers

**Boys**: _Brock Gibson_ (16)- Career. Black hair and blue eyes. Short and lean. Very fast and unnoticeable. Volunteered. Sneaky.

_Warrick Harris_ (16)- Career. Brown hair and brown eyes. Medium and built. Great with a sword. Volunteered. Ruthless and brutal.

**Girls**: _Katarina Thomas_ (16)- Career. Black hair and grey eyes. Short and lean. Good with poison darts. Volunteered. Cocky and Arrogant.

_Josefina Morales_ (17)- Career. Black hair and brown eyes. Tall and muscular. Excellent with a spear. Volunteered. Somewhat modest yet unyielding in battle.

District 3 – Electronics

**Boys**:_ Bryson Brady_(13)- Red hair/blue eyes. Short and skinny. Intelligent. Unskilled and not very resourceful in nature.

_Rurik Johannsen_ (14)- black hair/green eyes. Average sized. Somewhat resourceful. Good with wires. Extremely nice and open.

**Girls**: _Esmeralda Knotts_ (17)- Blonde hair/blue eyes. Tall and skinny. Very intelligent. Very quiet and reserved.

_Deborah Jameson_ (18)- Brown hair/brown eyes. Medium and lean. Good with a bow and arrow. Intense when approached.

District 4 – Fishing

**Boys**: _Samuel O'Hare_ (15)- Career. Blonde hair/brown eyes. Medium and Muscular. Great with a trident. Younger brother of Sandrine. Didn't volunteer. Modest, yet powerful.

_Brayson Neartide_ (17)- Career. Black hair/black eyes. Tall and built. All around great. Volunteered. Extremely arrogant.

**Girls**: _Sandrine O'Hare_ (17)- Career. Red hair/brown eyes. Tall and lean. Great with a spear. Volunteered to protect younger brother. Protective and powerful.

_Misty Everfar_ (16)- Career. Brown hair/blue eyes. Medium and lean. Excellent swimmer and good with nets. Volunteered. Slightly cocky.

District 5 – Power

**Boys**: _Micah Andres_ (13)- Brown hair/grey eyes. Short and stocky. Good with machines. All talk, no game

_Brodie Braxton_ (15)- Red hair/brown eyes. Medium and lean. Quick. Very sly.

**Girls**: _Fiona Westhill_ (13)- Brown hair/brown eyes. Short and thin. No talents. Puny and pathetic.

_Kimi Sampson_ (16)- blonde hair/brown eyes. Tall and thin. Good with clubs. Good leader.

District 6 – Transportation

**Boys**: _Boydd Thromer_ (17)- Blonde hair/grey eyes. Tall and lean. Good with hand on hand combat. Very modest.

_Lee Andrick_ (14)- Red hair/green eyes. Short and lean. Decent with bow and arrow. Sneaky and arrogant

**Girls**: _Bianka Worryman_ (18)- Brown hair/blue eyes. Medium and strong. Somewhat accurate thrower. Silent but deadly.

_Ciara Daley_ (15)- Blonde hair/blue eyes. Medium and sneaky. Intelligent. Sniveling and whiny.

District 7 – Lumber

**Boys**: _Wiley Birchwood_ (17)- Blonde hair/brown eyes. Short and skinny. Good with setting fires. Strange and awkward.

_Zeke Lees_ (14)- Brown hair/green eyes. Medium and strong. Very accurate with axe. Determined.

**Girls**: _Willow Granger_ (15)- red hair/blue eyes. Tall and skinny. Deadly with an axe. Tough-minded

_Shelbee Barker_ (18)- Dirty blonde/brown eyes. Tall and lanky. Narrow-minded. Very weird and eerily passive.

District 8 – Textiles

**Boys**: _Maximillian Rooser_ (12)- blonde hair/brown eyes. Short and skinny. Clever and tricky.

_Skip Zucker_ (13)- Dark black hair/brown eyes. Medium and lean. Very quick and agile. Hyper and loud

**Girls**: _Emilee Gilmore_ (16)- Red hair/blue eyes. Tall and skinny. Good at making tools. Hard headed

_Rageanne Brooch_ (18)- Dark black hair/brown eyes. Tall and built. Good with darts. Serious and dry

District 9 – Grain

**Boys**: _Baxter Morgan_ (18)- blonde hair/blue eyes. Tall and lean. Good with heavy lifting. Sweet and sour

_Markus Osterman_ (17)- black hair/black eyes. Medium and lean. Good at hiding. Avoiding

**Girls**: _Mona Briggs_ (14)- black hair/blue eyes. Short and skinny. Quick. Happy and quirky

_Merrirose Blackbird_ (15)- red hair/green eyes. Medium and stocky. Selfish and hazardous.

District 11 – Agriculture

**Boys**: _Mack Behring_ (13)- dark black hair/dark brown eyes. Short and lean. Good with food trapping. Funny and cheerful.

_Mallow Swoopes_ (16)- blonde hair/blue eyes. Tall and skinny. Good with sword. Faithful

**Girls**: _Harper Montgomery _(17)- dark black hair/dark brown eyes. Tall and built. Great with scythe. Sarcastic and tough

_Rayven Hunter_ (17)- brown hair/green eyes. Medium and strong. Great with clubs. Hyper and exciting

District 12 – Coal Mining

**Boys**: _Praxton Kepheart_ (16)- black hair/green eyes. Medium and skinny Malnourished. Nice and bright

_Coy Farrow_ (16)- Grey hair/blue eyes. Tall and lanky. Greedy and rude

**Girls**: _Rosagrace Hawthorne_ (14)- brown hair/grey eyes. Medium and lean. Good at hunting. A fighter

_Diedra Hangleton_ (18)- Brown hair/grey eyes. Short and skinny. Athletic. Determined.

…."Well, looks like you guys will be dead within the first five minutes. Lovely," Monikka cackled as she walks away leaving us with the field of 48 tributes fresh on our minds.


	5. Chapter 5

I feel as if my defense mechanisms for staying strong are failing. No clever insults for my fellow tributes come to my mind. Fear rushes over me now that I see the faces of the massive field of tributes that I'll soon be fighting to the death against. Almost all of them except the sickly-looking ones from 12 and a few others, especially that creepily-disturbed girl from 7, could easily kill somebody with a flick of their hands. It seems the 44 other faces sit unpleasantly in everyone else because we all leave Icirrus sitting in the compartment as we head to our separate rooms to sleep.

As I'm approaching my compartment, still very uneasy and on-edge from today's events, I feel a hand on my shoulder and I turn around with a start. I'm surprised to find Ryann standing there with an awkward smile on his face. He chuckles a little because of my startled response then begins, "Hey, I want to talk."

I follow him into his compartment as we settle into some seats. "I bet you're extremely confused with my actions at the Reaping this afternoon." I nod my head in agreement. "Well, I was a little surprised that the words escaped from my mouth, as well. I mean, I have thought about volunteering for awhile now, but I didn't think I would actually put myself through with it. But I can explain…"

"I've always had this sort of admiration for you and your friends. I know that sounds sort of creepy and weird, but it's true. With my family being one of the wealthiest in the District, I was always thrown into my class of friends. I don't even like any of them really. They're so annoying; I feel like punching half of them in the face every time they open their mouths." I'm beginning to respect this kid more and more. Mainly because that's how I feel when I see his stuck-up "friends" in school. It does make sense though now. I never could understand why this awkward, yet surprisingly sarcastic and funny guy would fit in with the popular group.

"But anyways, that obviously wasn't the only reason I did what I did. I mean, yeah I wanted to get to know you guys because I respected your down-to-earth ways, but that would be borderline crazy if that was the only reason for my actions… It's my family. I'm almost certain they only had me as a son to have someone to work as a permanent ranch hand for no cost. I do like what I do on the ranch, but the idea itself is pretty messed up. We never talk. They never acknowledge my hard work. The only thing they do to communicate is by giving me three meals a day and paying for my schooling. Both of which I'm extremely grateful for considering many people are nowhere near as privileged. I just figured, maybe if I volunteer and help you guys win this thing, they would look to me as more than a blood-related ranch hand."

I stare at Ryann for a couple of seconds, taking in everything he just said. I realized I can deal with this kid after all. He seems to have some things going for him. It sucks about his whole family ordeal, though. I couldn't even imagine myself in those circumstances. I wonder if they even said good-bye to him in the Town Hall building? They must have… I start filling with sympathy for him, so I say, "Don't worry, I'll talk to the girls tomorrow with you. They'll open up. Dani will probably accept the idea better because you volunteered for her younger brother, but Vi can be pretty intense, it might take some warming up to reach her."

He laughs a little and thanks me. I tell him I'm heading for bed and then he says. "I truly am glad I'm getting this chance to meet you guys. The conditions for it suck to high heavens of course, but honestly, I think we could have a true shot at this. You and I are packing a good bundle of talents and the two girls got a lot of attributions going for them, too. Not to mention you three make a great team, and hopefully I can join in that mixture soon. We have a real chance in these Games. Seriously though, don't count us out."

And for the first time, I'm actually believing it.

For all that went down yesterday, I'd say I slept fairly well. I'm still pleasantly surprised by the whole confrontation with Ryann. And here I thought I was going to be fine with someone killing him off in the Games. Now it's too late to bring that thought back, I already have formed some respect for him which has molded itself into a start of a friendship.

I enter the breakfast car and see Ryann and Violette sitting together and in conversation. Oh good… maybe he already partially came through to her. I approach them two hesitantly and Ryann greets me with the ever-so pleasant: "Nice bed-hair, ugly." I feel as if I'm connecting to this kid more and more every minute. I mean, after all, he does know how to properly insult somebody.

To my relief, Vi actually lets out a low chuckle in response to his harassment, which shows that she's somewhat comfortable with him.

I look around the room to try and spot Dani but she's missing from the picture. Vi responds first, "Eh, she's probably still knocked out or something. That or trying to avoid Monikka. But really, do you blame her either way?"

"Hey now, I take that as a compliment thankyouverymuch," Monikka retorts as she struts into the compartment. Vi turns a light shade of red in embarrassment from Monikka calling her out. "Psh, don't worry, I would say something back, but if your ego is as big as your petite, little frame, then I'm afraid that I'll crush every last bit of your hopes and dreams." Ryann and I make quick glances in each other's direction. Vi isn't used to being spoken to like this, she may be in for a great challenge yet.

"Alright, we'll have to start without that other girl – "Dania, her name is Dania," I butt in. "But she likes to go by Dani." "Yeah," Ryann adds, "And I'm Ryann, that poor girl you insulted rather than mentored is Viollette, likes to go by Vi, and he's Mathias."

"Hmm…," Monikka responds while eyeing us three, "I like your attitudes. We may possibly perhaps somewhat get along somewhat maybe after all. But whatever, I need to begin my job I guess, so let's start on the festivities for tonight."

As if on cue, Dani comes in right in time to hear the first of the tips. She's not much of a morning person, and she looks extra… uh… special today. "Well it's nice of you to join us today Sleeping Beauty. And please take that remark in the most sarcastic way possible," Monikka jests.

"Anyways, for tonight, you will be given your prep teams and stylists like usual. The boys, Richie Rich and Farmer Bob, will share one set. The girls, Sassy Sally and Morning Sunshine, will share the other. You will allow them to do whatever, and I mean whatever, they desire to do to you. F they want to shave off your eyebrows, you let them. If they want to give you a sex change, you let them. If they want to dress you up in those God-awful cow costumes they put me and almost all the other miserable District 10 tributes in, you let them!"

Before we can begin to object, she's on her next roll of orders, "You four will obviously be sharing the same chariot. Make the crowd love you. Do what you can to make them flip head over heels for you. I want the crowd to be in tears when they see you! Act united and together, of course. I have a feeling that you are all friends, so you should have zero excuse not to do so, but still, show it in every way possible."

With that, she got up from the table and left the room without as much as a "Good-bye." Just in time for the first setting of the Capitol to come into view.

It looks amazing! The city literally shines, sparkles, and glows in the breathtaking scenery surrounding the center. On one side rests a chain of snow-capped mountains and the other side homes a large, crystal lake. Everything about this place _seems _perfect. Too bad anybody with a brain knows this isn't the case.

As we approach the station, Ryann and I head over to Dani so we can talk to her about why he did what he did at the Reaping. "Hey Dani. Uh… is it okay if I call you that? I just want to explain why –" he got cut off by Dani squeezing him in an embrace. "No, it's fine. You potentially saved my little brother's life. I finally realized that it's best that he's not with us after all. If my family lost two children in the Games, I'm not sure if they could handle the drastic change. So… thank you." Ryann and I looked at each other yet again in relief. I figured Dani would be easier to get to than Vi, but that was much easier than I expected in both ways.

We all stand next to each other as we stare out the windows of the train while its pulling into the station. Thousands of Capitol citizens await for us there.

"Make the crowd love you…" Monikka's words play in my head. This initiates my smiling and excessive waving directed at the mass of people. The other three soon follow my lead, causing us to look like one happy crew. I begin to blow kisses at them and they respond by pointing at me and jumping up and down. Jeez, they're freaky. All of them are equally as ugly as Icirrus.

Our train finally comes to a stop. The four of us walk out of the train hand-in-hand, just like we were told. The crowd is heads over toes with the vision playing out in front of it. It's all sick. Wrong. Demented. Cruel. Yet I keep on smiling as if I'm playing right along with the Games.


	6. Chapter 6

We're finally whisked away from the crowds of people bombarding us with admiration and fandom and sent into a long, fancy car that leads us to the training center. Just as the four of us finish playing with the fancy gadgets in our, as the driver called it "limousine," we are yanked out by a pair of Peacekeepers and sent into the building.

The girls are pulled one way, Ryann and I the other. The two of us are sitting by ourselves joking about what freaks we'll get this year when the door opens and a barrage of rainbow colors blinds our eyes.

One-by-one the prep team introduces themselves. Fantina is a rather plump woman with spiked-up maroon hair. Her purple body paint would bring tears to a normal baby's eyes. Marcos is an extremely flamboyant red-head with long, flowing curls and a powdered face that resembles Icirrus'. He seems to be the leader of the three by the way the two others treat him. Our final member, Beatrix, is the most bizarre looking with yellow, curly hair on the left side of her head and black, wavy hair on the right. Her dark make-up gives her a demonic-like appearance, but she seems bright and chipper like the rest.

Man, are they annoying. "Capitol fashion…" this and "exquisite cuisine" that. If only they had more important things to worry about. They're hacking away at our hair and plucking away the few remnants of facial hair when our stylist enters the room to greet us.

She's absolutely stunning. Her hair appears to be a natural blonde color. She does have fake contact lenses in her eyes to give them a greenish glow and her powdered-blue lips look doll-like. Other than these…um… flaws, she seems to be somewhat normal.

"Hello," she purrs," I'm Natalia. I'll be taking care of your fashion needs this next week; trying to make sure you give the best impression possible. I just finished watching your Reapings. I'm very intrigued by your whole situation, and when I'm intrigued, I offer up some damn good results. I can't wait to get you into your outfits for tonight!"

And with that, she spins around and walks out the door.

I turn to Ryann, "Hmm… must not have a way with long conversations." We start laughing but our prep team shushes us so they can get back to work.

Meeting Natalia brings back horrible memories from watching former District 10 tributes in the past years. I don't think Natalia was the stylist for them, but some of the dreaded outfits are the idiotic looking cowboy outfits and laughable cow suits. Whatever idiots allowed themselves to carry on that tradition, I don't know. Either way, I'm dreading the Tribute Parade.

When the prep team finalizes their "masterpieces," aka us, Ryann and I are finally able to get a good look at ourselves. "You two are finally beautiful!" Fantina squeals. Speak for yourself, ugly… But I have to admit she's right. Even though I could kick myself for wearing make-up, I do look pretty stunning. Ryann doesn't look half bad either.

We're sent down to Natalia, nervously waiting for the fates in the news for our costumes. We enter the room, and without so much as a "Hello," she just pulls the costumes out of the closet and into our hands.

My heart beat eases a little when I see it's not a cow suit or a scrubby cowboy outfit. But confusion sets in. Part of the outfit she gave me has a gun holster and a star-shaped badge that says "Sheriff" on the front. What in tarnation is a sheriff?

Natalia recognizes our confusion and explains that a sheriff was a Peacekeeper-like position in our District pre-Panem. She wanted to stray from the cowboy attire, so she decided to take a more demanding role as the cowboy's protector. She said they wore cowboy hats, too, and protected the townspeople from fugitives.

Eh, whatever. At this point I'm just glad it's not a cow or cowboy outfit. I put on my black button-up dress shirt and white dress pants with a black belt, pin on my solid-gold sheriff badge, straighten my white and black sheriff's hat, and lace up my fancy-looking cowboy boots.

Ryann and I are practically mirror images of each other, besides the fact that I'm much better looking, of course. Our outfits alone could be the best ever in our District's history. We'll see what the girls look like until we prove that point. What are they going to be? Female sheriffs?

When we're sent to meet up with them, I see it's the exact opposite. They're supposed to be the "Sheriff's Fugitives" as their stylist, Conrad, points out. The girls' hair is flowing in beautiful dark curls. With the dark shadows around their eyes and seductively bright red lipstick, they definitely give off the bad-girl vibe. They are dressed in short, black dresses with white leggings. Their curvy, black boots finish off their outfits.

Wow… I sound extremely flamboyant describing this, but I can't help it, we look sexy, and not at all innocent. Our stylists sure know a thing or two about making impressions.

As we climb up onto our chariots, harassing Dani and Vi as they unsuccessfully hoist themselves up in their dresses along the way, we look at the chariot in front of us to see the four District 9 tributes dressed in matching grey outfits with pieces of grain jetting out from random parts of their bodies. Oh yeah… that's stylin' right there… We proceed to turn around to see the tributes from District 11. We each let out low chuckles. To their utter embarrassment, they're dressed up as lanky corn stalks. How in all of Panem can someone pull that off? Two of the District 9ers turn around and look at our costumes in envy. Vi replies back with a pleasant little wave and a sarcastic grin to finish of the gesture. The sour looking red-head turns back around with an eye roll.

Suddenly, the crowd starts roaring which must be signaling the District 1 carriage. The television to my right shows the live footage and I'm able to see the District 1 tributes dressed in their gold studded outfits that are plastered with fine emeralds, rubies, and diamonds. District 2's carriage runs out next with their tributes wearing fancied-up Peacekeeper uniforms. Guess they strayed from the masonry aspect of their District this year.

District 3 comes next in their unique looking attire. The tributes are dressed in all black with wires that are jetting out sparks circling their bodies. District 4 is mermaids… again. District 5 is power plant workers… again. District 6 looks a little different dressed up in what would look like normal looking attire if it weren't for the propeller shaped hats spinning on their heads. District 7 wore brown and green with branches sticking out of their hair and pockets. District 8 wore suits and dresses with a random array of patchwork and patterns of cloth blotched everywhere. District 9 exited next. Then came us…

We were soon blinded by bright lights and screaming cheers that us country folk are far from used being accustomed. We stood girl, boy, girl, boy in the same order we were Reaped/volunteered. Locking arms so we could all wave, we looked like one big, happy family of sheriffs and fugitives. The Capitol loved us. They were drooling over the girls' promiscuous bad girl outfits while admiring our handsome and powerful looking man-in-charge attire. I kept blowing kisses, pointing at crowds of people, and throwing roses that landed into our carriage back into the masses.

I was pleased to see the other three were putting an equally good show for themselves. Ryann was air fiving fans that we passed while waving to the other side. Vi and Dani were both doing bad-girl poses to drive the fans even more crazy. Hand, line, and sinker… we got these sponsors in the palm of our hands. Well, hopefully.

As we pulled into the circle and waited for the plain-looking coal miners from District 12 to pull in, President Salt stepped up to the podium and began talking in her cold, heartless screech. "Welcome tributes! I'm pleased to announce the opening ceremonies for the 100th Hunger Games! May the fourth Quarter Quell be the best yet. Thank you and may the odds be ever in your favor."


	7. Chapter 7

Upon entering the training building, the four of us are immediately engulfed in hugs and praise from Natalia, Conrad, and Icirrus. Monikka just stands back with a smug smirk on her face. What's that? Is that a hint of satisfaction in her smile? Score. When I make eye contact with her, she nods in my direction. I'll take that as her way of saying "Nailed it."

As Icirrus leads us past the other teams, some of the Districts with the less fortunate costumes give us envious looks. Luckily, our costumes weren't too showy, so we aren't receiving dirty looks from the vicious Careers.

Icirrus continues on to lead us to our 10th floor residence in which we will be residing for the next week. He's rambling about our opening night performances along the way. The four of us aren't really tuning to what he has to say because our attention is being averted to the perfection and finesse in the design of the floor. Everything seems so perfect about it. Until reality sets in…

The floor's décor is themed to remind us of back home. How cruel… yet beautiful. Finely chiseled antler chandeliers hang from the ceilings. A plethora of paintings of pastures and graceful horses and other animals cover the walls. The carpet is as green as the grace back home. The setting is soothing, complementary, and pleasing. Oh wait, what am I saying? Ahem… down with the Capitol! There we go… much better.

After settling into our rooms, Ryann and I in one and Vi and Dani in the other, and after much fighting on who gets to have the "better" bed, we showered up and headed to the dining room for dinner. Our stylists, Icirrus, and Monikka were already in there when the four of us entered. We sat around the table and dove in to the mouth-watering feast before our eyes.

The homemade chicken pot pie was amazing. The lobster bisque was succulent. The oysters were just right. Everything was to die for. No pun intended. Once we let the food settle in, Monikka started talking about training tomorrow. "Alright now, listen up. As usual, don't let anyone see your best skills. It would be completely idiotic for you to practice your best skills anyways, when there are so many other survival skills I guarantee you're clueless about that you could be practicing. So, don't be afraid to go to the edible plant station, the knot tying section, and even the camouflage area. Another thing, since there are twice as many people, DO NOT trust the Careers. I guarantee any one of you could become a Career on any normal year, but since this year's rules are thwarted and annoying, it would be to your benefit if you would avoid the pack completely. As for other alliances, go for it with your best judgment. Mommy Monikka won't be there to form an opinion on whether or not you four should trust anybody else, so that's for you to call. I'm almost certain the Career alliance will consist of 12 tributes this year, even with the rule change, so I would definitely recommend teaming up. Because, no matter how strong you are, the victor on a 12 versus four is a no-brainer. Good luck."

And up she goes. Sheesh, what's with all of the sudden exits recently? Icirrus tells us to show our amazing techniques in the new things we try tomorrow because the Gamemakers will indeed be watching us tomorrow. Yeah, whatever. To Hell with them for all I care. Until our private session with them that is. Conrad and Natalia just reassure us that our training gear will be ready for us in the morning. They wish us luck and leave the room.

"So… what now?" Vi starts first. "Oh wait…I have an idea!"

We gather in the living room as she rummages through the collection of videos they have for us. I soon realize that they are recaps of the past Hunger Games. We decide to not watch the past Quarter Quells, they were on ALL THE TIME back home. We decide to watch the 14th Games; where the first victor from District 10 was crowned.

It started from the point of view of the Boy from 6 rising up in his tube into the arena. It then zoomed out to show three of the tributes faces and their reactions to the arena. We saw their faces drop in extreme disappointment and some even showed horror. They were in a frozen wasteland. It then flashed over to Shayna Pevensole, the year's winner. She didn't look too intimidating, but she looked very determined and prepared. She was around Dani's build and was very attractive. The gong sounded and right away about five different Tributes slipped and fell on their faces. The smart ones realized that the ground surrounding their pedestals and the Cornucopia was a thick sheet of ice. Thus started the most anti-climatic "run" for the supplies ever. Tributes were scrambling and slipping for the nearest bags so they could get the heck off the ice. The girl tributes from 3 and 5 actually fell through the ice because it was thin in certain parts. They were goners. The Bloodbath wasn't "exciting" at all. The Careers finally reached the Cornucopia and only took out four Tributes. So technically six total died in the Bloodbath.

That night, three tributes froze to death. The next day, the Careers found two tributes who had somehow started fires since there were no trees or anything to block the smoke. With 13 tributes left, the next few days were relatively quiet. Shayna was able to grab a warm fur coat in the Bloodbath and some ice fishing equipment. She was able to fashion an igloo-like hut in a remote part of the arena. This girl was a survivor. I was very impressed.

The Capitol was getting bored. The Gamemakers started up two different snowstorms that wiped out three more Tributes. The Careers lost one of their own when the Girl from 2 fell through the ice near the Cornucopia and drowned. The Careers moved out of the hazardous area to the snowy sections of the land.

The other two non-Careers or Shayna froze to death, so the Careers decided to finally split up their alliance and give each other some fair moving room. This year was so anti-climatic in so many ways. The Boy Careers from 4 and 1 froze to death, leaving the Boy from 2, the Girls from 4 and 1, and Shayna. The Girl from 4 found the Girl from 1 and they fought it out. The Girl from 4 ended up harpooning the girl from one in the stomach and came out victorious. Two days passed and nothing happened. The Gamemakes had to make a move.

Suddenly, in the middle of the day, the clouds broke away, the sun came out, and the entire arena started to melt. A 70 degree temperature change in a matter of seconds. The Cornucopia was now underwater so the remaining tributes were called to a feast in the field surrounding the lake where the Cornucopia once stood. The three, after shedding all of their winter gear met up when they reached their supplies all at the same time. Shayna and the Boy from 2 decided to take out the Girl from 4 first because they figured she was the strongest. Shayna, however, caught the Boy from 2 off-guard and slit his throat. His canon sounded suddenly and unexpectedly. The girl from four raised her eyebrows in surprise and lurched at Shayna. She was able to dodged the blow pretty easily and swung at her with her axe. It caught her in the side and suddenly started spewing blood. The girl from 4 recovered quite fast and launched a harpoon in Shayna's shoulder. She then continued to stab her in the stomach with her knife when she was distracted with the harpoon sticking out of her body. Shayna fell to the ground, looking defeated. The girl from four leaned over her, ready to bring the finishing blow, when Shayna suddenly came to life, raised her axe above the girl from 4's back and slammed it down. She moved out from under her falling body and hacked at her until her cannon sounded. The announcer came on, announced the first ever winner from District 10, then the screen went black.

We sat there for awhile not saying anything. Then eventually, one-by-one, we got up and went to our beds, ready for our dreams to be as unpleasant as ever.


	8. Chapter 8

**Sorry for the out-of-context spree I went on at the end of the last Chapter, I was just kind of practicing for when these Games finally start. I hope my story isn't too boring, thanks for reading! Oh yeah, and I do not own the **_**Hunger Games**_**!**

Surprise, surprise. I had a terrible night's sleep last night. I mean, I've obviously watched The Games before, but not in the setting with me going into them in a matter of days for a Quarter Quell. C'mon now, give me a break!

We all force down our breakfast and head to the training room together. The tributes from 1, 2, 4, and 11 are already in there when we arrive. We decided to distance ourselves away from the Careers from the get-go and situate ourselves comfortably next to the District 11 Tributes. I start up a conversation with the sixteen year old boy tribute, Mallow. He seems really nice and laid-back. He starts talking to us about his home and asks us about ours. The conversation is flowing real smoothly until it is interrupted by the Head Trainer as she informs us that all the Tributes are currently present.

She goes on her spiel about how we aren't allowed to fight each other until the arena and how we should become well adapted to the survival techniques since many tributes die of exposure to their environment. Once she concludes, we decide to split up in pairs and test out some of the non-combat stations. Dani and I head over to the edible plant station and Ryann and Vi test out the knot tying station. Dani quietly teaches me what plants are safe to eat and which ones to avoid. She's a whizz when it comes to edible plants because of her parents' business. After she teaches me, I test out my knowledge and end up only missing three out of 20 plants. Not bad! She avoids taking the test to prevent from showing off her skills and then we move over to the trap setting portion of the training room.

The little Tribute from 11, Mack, is already there testing out one of his traps. When it successfully activates and easily crushing and killing whatever animal would have fallen into it, we approach him and ask him for advice. He's a sweet kid. It's sad because that's exactly what he is… a kid, and he'll be fighting against tributes twice his size in a few days. But anyways, he seems to be very knowledgeable about survival skills as he teaches us the basic maneuvers for setting a small animal trap. After working on the traps for a good hour and a half, we say good-bye to our new friend and head over to where Ryann and Vi started out, the knot tying station.

The two younger tributes from District 6 are already there, but they are two of the most annoying people I have ever met, so we decide to leave them alone. The girl is complaining about every little thing that goes wrong and the boy keeps bragging about his very unimpressive, sloppy knots.

We decide not to spend too much time at the knot station, mainly due to our annoyance and our fear of breaking the rule of not killing another Tribute before the Games. We pass up the fire starting station since we are already very accustomed to it and head over to the camouflage area. The quiet girl from District 7 is there painting a picture. A very beautiful picture at that. She must have been here all day working on it. Strange. Well, we try not to seem distracted by her awkwardness, so we learn how to properly blend ourselves in to our environment until we are dismissed from the training room.

When we get back to our floor, we shower, get into comfortable clothes, and meet up with our team for dinner again. Monikka starts the conversation ,"So lemme hear it. How was the first day of training? And I want to hear specifics. If you leave me with just a 'Fine.' Then I'll throw myself across the table at you." After Icirrus stops "tsking" and shaking his head at Monikka, we begin our day's summary. Ryann and Vi started at the knot tying station, proceeded to the edible plant section, then spent most of their day in the swimming lesson station (which has been a reoccurring station in the training room ever since the Tributes requested one after they saw the start of the 3rd Quarter Quell) of the training center. They admitted into taking an interest in Harper and Rayven the two girls from District 11, and said that they could be trusted.

When it was Dani and my turn to go, we admitted that we were already experienced swimmers, something that we randomly took up with Dani's brother back home in 10 and went through the list of our training experiences for the day. We told them about Mack and Mallow, about the annoyingness of the District 6 tributes, and about the strangeness of the District 7 girl.

"Yeah, her name is Shelbee. Old Johanna told me she's having trouble coming through to her. It's a good thing that being 90 has calmed her nerves. If she was anything like the bitch she used to be, the poor woman's heart would have given out from shouting at her constantly," Monikka points out.

We wrap up the dinner saying that we're going to test out our combat skills tomorrow and we all leave the table pleased with our training day and the partial alliances we may have made.

As crazy as it may sound, we decide that watching another Games would be best for mentally preparing ourselves for our Games. We stick with the watching of past District 10 victors, so we pop in the second District 10 winner, Apryl Rhoads, in the 41st Games

This time, the camera focuses on the Girl from 1's point of view as she cruises up her tube. She has a smirk on her face as if she's ready for anything. The Cornucopia isn't in that much of an impressive spot. Just a meadow with some flowers here and there. The gong echoes and we watch the entire Bloodbath through the eyes of a Career girl from District 2. She grabs some knives and almost immediately hurls them at her fellow tributes. She takes out the Boy from 5 and the Girl from 9 with repeated hits to the back. The screen splits in sections so we can see the other deaths in the Bloodbath. The Girl from 1 is brutally stabbing the Boy from 6. The Girl from 3 is clubbing her district partner to death. Guess they didn't get along very well… The Careers proceed to take out the Girls from 3, 7, 8, and `12 and the Boys from 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11. That leaves 13 tributes dead in the Bloodbath.

The camera man zooms out to show the entire arena. That's when our jaws drop. It is the smallest arena I have ever seen. Ever. It cannot even been a half mile in diameter. The circular edge of the arena drops off into a 400 foot fall to the death. It makes sense though. The 40th Games lasted 3 weeks. I doubt the Gamemakers wanted another bore-fest like the one they had last year.

The Careers confiscated three different Tributes camps that night: the Boy from 12 and the Girls from 5 and 11. The next day they quickly find the Girl from 6 and they decided to finally split up their alliance after unsuccessfully finding Apryl, who has burrowed her way underground with the tools she got from the supplies at the beginning of the Games. She has used her camouflage skills to hide her secret area from the others. Right when the Careers split up, a fight breaks out between the Girls from 4 and 2. This draws all the Careers back into the middle for one gigantic fight. The crowd has to be loving these Games, no matter how short they are. In the end, the Boy from 1 is the last one standing from the Career pack. But he's hurt. Very hurt. Apryl wasn't far (obviously) from the scene and she heard the commotion. She approached the Boy from 1, he surprisingly dropped his weapon and put his hands up as he became a sitting target. He knew he stood no chance, even if he could somehow overpower her. Apryl grabbed the bow next to her feet. And sent an arrow flying right through his chest. The screen went black. End Games.

We were still shaken up from what we just saw, just not as much as last night. It was all so surreal. That had to be the shortest Games ever to occur. I couldn't even imagine things escalating that quickly.

Once again, we headed off to bed for an OK night's sleep before our next training day.


	9. Chapter 9

Well, better luck sleeping than last night… I actually got a few hours! Everyone else seems in a better mood today now that we know what to expect in the training room. We walk into breakfast and Icirrus is talking Monikka's head off. She's sitting at the table with her face in her palm rolling her eyes as our oblivious escort keeps rambling on about what the other District escorts are talking about their tributes.

She looks up at us and appears slightly relieved when she sees new/semi-normal faces. "So you know what the game plan today is, correct?" Monikka interrupts, "Focus mainly on the combat skills so you can get all of your whimpy asses into shape."

"Ha. That means so much coming from you. Maybe you should practice some combat skills so you can SLIM that ass of yours down!" Vi retorts.

"Oh you're such a sweetie. I'll remember that when I'm trying to convince sponsors to send you parachutes in the arena," Monikka snaps back. We all start busting out laughing. Even Monikka lets out a chuckle or two… maybe three. Icirrus seems to be the only one not understanding the sarcastic relationship between the team.

We finish up our delightful breakfast and the four of us head over to the training room.

Apparently the other Districts have the same periodic schedule as us, because the same Districts are already in the room as yesterday. We start up a conversation with 11 again, this time getting to know everyone a little better.

Mack is absolutely hilarious. He seems to be a pretty happy guy. He's the oldest of six kids, so he was used to lightening up his younger siblings' moods during tough times. Mallow is the same as yesterday. Very nice and open. Harper is kind of intimidating. She's definitely the quiet one of the group, but she appreciates a sarcastic jest here and there and would be a useful ally to have. Finishing out the quartet, Rayven is hyper and all over the place. She is so quirky, yet powerful. Another great possibility for an ally.

We're interrupted by Zaire, the Head Trainer, as she dismisses us from the gathering place and on to the training stations. This time Vi and I pair up and we head off to the sword fighting station. I'm not too impressive at this station. I'm able to block and parry some strikes, but I get hit with the rubber sword far more than I like. I think that even Violette has me beat in this category. We head over to the obstacle course and we both excel greatly there with our speed and agility.

We proceed over to the test our abilities in axe throwing. The two boy tributes from District 9 are there practicing, as well. Funny… last time I saw them this close, they were wearing hideous grain costumes. I let out a chuckle and the older one, Baxter I think, gives me a questioning stare. The other guy doesn't talk to us the entire time, but Baxter tries to start up conversations here and there. Eh, we'll pass on them. It turns out that I'm great with axe throwing. I hit the target, not directly in the middle unfortunately, every single time. Vi is decent at it, if only she had a bit more upper-body strength.

We take a break for lunch and meet up with Ryann and Dani. They tested out the archery, knife-throwing, and weight lifting stations, so we decided to hit those up after lunch.

I take it easy at the archery station. I use the opportunity mainly to get a feel for a bow and arrow again, since I haven't touched one in a week. I take a couple of shots, purposely missing the target each time. Vi knows how to shoot a little because of me, but she rarely hits the targets when she shoots.

We lift some weights, working on all of the body areas, then finish at the knife throwing station. I only miss the target four out of fifteen tries, so I'm not half bad. Vi mimics what I did at the archery station. She hits exactly where she aims, right outside the target. Her form is amazing, her aim is (purposefully) off. The four Career tributes from 1 are at the station giving us piercing stares as they personally judge our abilities.

Finally, we're dismissed up to our floors as the training day ends.

At dinner, we let Monikka know our attempt with an alliance with District 11 has progressed and our days were very successful. When they all clear out, we decide to pop in another Hunger Games and "enjoy" the show.

We find the third victor of District 10 pretty easily. It was the awful 61st Games where they only had spiked clubs to bludgeon each other to death with. Kincaid Lawson, the winner that year, was the male Tribute from District 10 that was Reaped for the 3rd Quarter Quell. He was the last tribute to win for District 10 before the second rebellion.

These Games were gruesome and bloody. The sandy, mild desert became blotched with blood. Kincaid was an attacker compared to the other District 10 Victors. He killed three other Tributes before the final showdown between him and the Boy from 7 (most of the Careers died in a sandstorm). In the end, though badly beaten to a pulp, Kincaid obviously came out victorious and became District 10's third Victor.

As unsettling as those Games were, I was still able to get a decent night's sleep.

Our camaraderie with District 11 escalated quickly the final day in the training room. We were laughing and joking and teasing. Vi called Mallow ugly to his face, he recommended that she goes straight into the Bloodbath and try to pick a fight with every Career she comes by; Mack keeps trying to trip us as we walk in front of other tributes, and Ryann pushed him into the scary girl from 2: things like these to show we're bonding brought out the best of us. We even invited them to our lunch table today.

I partner with Ryann that day as we mix and match between combat and survival skills. I worked on mainly trying to teach him how to perfect his swimming stroke so he can practice his speed along with technique. The young girl from 12 seems to be getting the strokes down, but younger tribute boys from 3 and 5 seem to be struggling with the whole thing. They can't even tread water.

Once dismissed, we are all too tired to watch another Games after dinner. The three days of training have finally gotten to us.

We gave Monikka our day's review then headed straight to bed. Tomorrow was going to be a busy day. One-on-one training with a team member and then our interviews. Violette is with Icirrus (she won't handle that well at all). Dani is with Conrad. Ryann is with Natalia. Aaaaand, that leaves me with Monikka. Wonderful.


	10. Chapter 10

**Here's the private session with the Gamemaker's chapter! I've posted all of the tributes training scores, too. They really don't matter too much, so don't feel like you have to read the entire section. Thanks! I do not own the **_**Hunger Games**_**.**

"Thanks for keeping me up all night with your monsterous snoring!" I scold Ryann.

"Awwww, poor little pretty boy didn't get his beauty sleep for the big day today? I'm TERRIBLY sorry," Ryann jokes back.

I throw my pillows across the room at him to shut him up and then dash to the bathroom so I can be the first to get ready. I can hear his shouting and complaining while I'm enjoying my soothing, warm shower.

We meet up with the girls and head to breakfast before our individual training days. When we get there, the four "team leaders" are already there talking amongst themselves. "Screw it!" Monikka says "We're going to do this the more sensible way!"

"Do what the more sensible way?" Dani chimes in.

"Well dear, we were originally going to train you four separately for the private sessions with the Gamemakers and the interviews for tomorrow, but seeing as this year's Games are a little… different, we decided it would be silly if you didn't work together. Plus, I'm pretty sure Monikka is the only one that is comfortable teaching you how to use your weapons properly," Natalia properly points out.

"Sounds good!" we all say in unison.

After a much needed breakfast, the eight of us head over to the training room specifically made for District 10 and we practice what we were going to do for the Gamemakers. Dani has apparently gotten a niche for axe throwing and poison dart blowing so she decides to practice that along with medical herb remedies. Vi sticks with knife throwing and agility testing. Ryann practices mainly his sword fighting along with some spear throwing. And I find myself extremely comfortable at the archery range and the axe throwing station.

After excessive praise from Conrad, Natalia, and Icirrus and a nod and smile combo from Monikka, we figure we're ready for this afternoon's private sessions with the Gamemakers.

We go back up to the floor, eat a nice lunch, and mentally prepare ourselves for the nerve-wrecking events about to take place.

We go downstairs to wait outside the training room. This is going to take FOREVER with being from District 10 and all. All of the Careers go in with looks of determination, yet slight uneasiness as if they don't know what to expect. We start up small talk with District 11, but it doesn't go very far because we're all nervous or trying to focus on what we're about to go through.

Finally, the anti-social boy from 9 leaves the training room, and Vi is called into the facility. Ryann, Dani, District 11, and I all wish her a good-luck before she disappears beyond the tall steel doors.

I'm shaking a little as the 20 minute wait seems to draw on forever. Then, I hear my name on the overhead "Mathias Hampton." Vi steps out of the doors looking slightly pleased, she gives me a nod and the others wish me good-luck.

I feel slightly better that Vi didn't come out looking distraught, but I'm still on edge and overthinking everything.

I step into the room and see the Gamemakers sitting in a viewing space looking over the entire facility. I stand directly in front of them and introduce myself. "Mathias Hampton, District 10." They nod me off and my time begins…. NOW!

I make my way over to the axe-throwing station. Wanting to save my best (archery) for last. I throw ten axes and hit the target all 10 times, hitting the bulls-eye six of those 10 throws. I decided to show them my swimming skills, so I change into swimming gear behind a curtain and dive into the pool and swim down and back four times as fast as I could.

They seem to be impressed because when I get out there is a hushed gossip amongst them, and I can see several of them nodding their heads in agreement.

I now head over to the archery station, I shoot ten arrows, hitting the bulls-eye nine of the ten and hitting the very outside of the edge of the bulls-eye ring once.

I want to show them some survival skills so I take the edible plant test and get an 18/20, WOOT WOOT! One point better than last time! I create a fire relatively easily and practice setting a small animal trap.

Okay, enough messing around. Time for the grand finale. I grab two axes and sheath of bow and arrows and make my way to the obstacle course. I'm attempting to show them my ability to move quickly and use my weapons at the same time.

I start my way speeding through the course. I fling my first axe at the first dummy I run by (it's about 20 feet away) and hit it in the arm, taking the arm completely off. Damn, should have aimed better. The next dummy I run by, I focus more on the center and nail it directly in the chest. I then run and shoot my arrows at four dummys hitting three of them near the very center of the chest and narrowly missing the entire one.

Besides the narrow miss, I feel very satisfied as they dismiss me from the training room.

Ryann and Dani come up to the room about 45 minutes later and we all discuss and self-evaluate our performances. They all ended up doing a variety of different things, like me. Vi threw knives, sword fought, tied some knots, and started some fires. Ryann sword fought, threw some spears, did the obstacle course, and showed his strength. Dani conjured up some medical remedies, threw some axes, swam, and made a poisonous mixture and used that with her blow darts.

We are all impressed with each other, even Monikka is smiling with a hint of admiration. Our conversation ends just in time for the viewing of the scores. Here we go….

"Good evening tributes! The scores have finally been posted after the intense evaluating processes the Gamemakers have undergone. And here we go in numerical order:

From District 1:

Plush Roberson with a score of 10. Emerald Miller with a score of 10. Fab Monroe with a score of 10. Glory Rhodes with a score of 9.

From District 2:

Brock Gibson with a score of 9. Katarina Thomas with a score of 8. Warrick Harris with a score of 10. Josefina Morales with a score of 10.

From District 3:

Bryson Brady with a score of 3. Esmeralda Knotts with a score of 5. Rurik Johannsen with a score of 7. Deborah Jones with a score of 8.

From District 4:

Samuel O'Hare with a score of 8. Sandrine O'Hare with a score of 9. Brayson Neartide with a score of 10. Misty Everfar with a score of 9.

From District 5:

Micah Andres with a score of 4. Fiona Westhill with a score of 2. Brodie Braxton with a score of 5. Kimi Sampson with a score of 7.

From District 6:

Boydd Thromer with a score of 6. Bianka Worryman with a score of 8. Lee Andrick with a score of 5. Ciara Daley with a score of 3.

From District 7:

Wiley Birchwood with a score of 5. Willow Granger with a score of 9. Zeke Lees with a score of 8. Shelbee Barker with a score of…1. *Monikka starts busting out laughing here*

From District 8:

Maximillian Rooser with a score of 5. Emilee Gilmore with a score of 6. Skip Zucker with a score of 5. Rageanne Brooch with a score of 8.

From District 9:

Baxter Morgan with a score of 6. Mona Briggs with a score of 6. Markus Osterman with a score of 5. Merrirose Blackbird with a score of 2.

*We all hold our breath*

From District 10:…

Mathias Hampton with a score of… 10 (?!). Daniah Trexler with a score of 9 (woot!). Ryann Hibbert with a score of 9 (ha, I did better than him. But seriously… woot!). Violette Trexler with a score of 9.

*We all start hooting and hollering until we hush each other so we can hear our potential allies' scores*

From District 11:

Mack Behring with a score of 6 (not bad for little Mack). Harper Montgomery with a score of 9 (Nice!). Mallow Swoopes with a score of 7 (pretty good for him!) Rayven Hunter with a score of 9 (no shocker there).

And finally… from District 12:

Praxton Kepheart with a score of 4. Rosagrace Hawthorne with a score of 6. Coy Farrow with a score of 3. Diedra Hangleton with a score of 8.

This concludes our announcements. Good night, tributes and good luck in your interviews tomorrow! I'm eagerly awaiting meeting all of you. This is Vinnie Gooser signing off!"

With that, Monikka gets up, gives us a thumbs up, and heads to her bedroom.


	11. Chapter 11

Surprisingly, we aren't too tired yet, so we decide to finish up watching the past Victors of District 10. That leaves Monikka for the finale. We kind of feel bad for doing it. It seems like an invasion of privacy. But then we remember how "nice" she's been to us the past week and we get over it quickly.

This time, the Games start with showing her rising up in her tube. To her surprise, she doesn't see light approaching. Her platform stops moving and she appears to still be in complete darkness. Suddenly and simultaneously, 24 overhead lights shine over each tribute's pedestal to illuminate each body. This brings chills to me for some reason. The tributes find a miner's headlamp at the edge of their pedestals. They slowly must be realizing what kind arena they are in this year.

The faces on some look completely unsettling. The gong strikes and Monikka takes off for the nearest backpack and turns around and sprints into the dark abyss behind her. I almost chuckle when I see that the two tributes from District 12 are the first to be killed off, then I realize what I'm laughing at and find it to be absolutely sick. I begin to wonder how the claw that usually picks up the deceased tributes will reach the completely enclosed arena.

Ten tributes are wiped out from the 88th Hunger Games' Bloodbath. The claw comes up from a nearby whole in the ground and takes away the Tributes' bodies. I guess since there are so many pitfalls in the arena, the claw will have easy access to a dead body no matter where someone dies.

That night, the careers don't even think about trudging out into the dark mine shafts to go tribute hunting. Two more tributes die due to their section of the mine collapsing on them. Monikka is camping near an area with a warm air vent generating around her. She was incredibly lucky to have night vision glasses so that she can ditch the obvious hideout give-away miner's headlamp and constantly wear the 100% less obvious glasses.

The next day, the mine fumes must have gotten to the Girl from 7 because she loses it and brutally shoves her district partner/ally into a pitfall, killing him instantly. Other than that, the day is relatively quiet.

Two tributes die of thirst the next day.

The day after that, Monikka decides to take action and make a plan to confiscate the Careers camp for food and water. Since District 4 isn't included in the career pack this year, her plan is relatively easier. Her night vision glasses work magic. She waits until they all drift asleep and stuffs her bag with almost all of the remaining food and water at their camp. She then proceeds to throw their, and any extra, miner's headlamps and the rest of their supplies down a nearby pitfall and slits the Girl from 1 and the Boy from 2's throats and takes off before the other two careers realize what's going on.

Monikka's plan was perfect. The careers will run out of food soon and will have no vision sources for finding any Tributes to mooch off of.

With seven tributes left, the Games are already nearing an end.

Monikka is never in any pickle for most of her Games. The careers die the next day since they have nothing to live off of. I think this is one of the only times a Career has not reached the final 5.

The crazed girl from 7 finds the sniveling girl from 5, who is half dead anyways, and finishes her off.

The Boys from 6 and 8 are in an alliance and are able to brutally slaughter the girl from 7. It seems as if the arena has brought out the worst of each tribute, except for Monikka. While the other Tributes have been preoccupied with finding each other, Monikka has been taking in all her surroundings and surveying her field of play. She finds a pitfall near her camp and is able to cover up the hole with one of her long, dark blankets she stole from the careers camp earlier in the Games.

Two days pass until they are called in for a feast. Monikka gets to the Cornucopia first since she knows the arena so well. Her surveying has paid off. The Boys from 6 and 8 approach the table laid out for the feast. Resting on it are night vision glasses. All of the sudden the Boy from 8 lets out a loud yelp and finds that his throat has been sliced open.

Monikka had snuck up behind him when they were distracted with the glasses. The boy from 6 immediately grabs his pair and chases after her.

She knows what she's doing when she leads him down the mine shaft she was camping out in. She leads him in there for a good half-mile. The camera angle switches to his point of view and he watches as she jumps in the air out of nowhere. He decides to follow suit although he sees nothing wrong with the ground in front of him. Unfortunately for him, he couldn't tell how far she jumped, so he landed a few feet behind where she did, lost his footing on the edge of the blanketed hole, and fell backwards into the hole.

He was able to grab onto the ledge before falling to his death. However, that would quickly change when Monikka found him and put her combat boots to good use by stomping on his fingers until he let go. He fell this time and five seconds later, his canon sounded signifying his death and Monikka's victory in the 88th Games.

We quietly turn off the TV and are sitting speechless until we're interrupted by a, "So do you like what you see?" We all jump about fifty feet into the air and turn around to see her standing there. Ugh, typical cliché moment. We dive into a private memory in someone's life and we get caught in the process. However, she doesn't even seem to be mad. She actually seems impressed!

"I gotta give it to you losers, you had a lot of nerve to watch this without asking me. When I first saw you in the Reapings, I wanted to barf at the sentimental moments you were trying to create with each other. Oh "our friendship is so strong this" and "I want to make my family finally proud of me" that… sickening. But I was wrong, you have all grown a lot and you have done the impossible: made me a satisfied mentor for once. I promise I wasn't like this my first time mentoring, but dealing with such passive tributes that have already seem to have given up kind of takes a toll on you after awhile. But no, you four have guts. I never thought I'd say this, but you have what it takes to make history in these Games and come back alive to District 10."

"Alright, well that is quite enough kindness for me for a lifetime. Off to bed you four. Big, big ,big day tomorrow!" she finishes in a mockery of Icirrus.

We all smile at each other with the event that had just unfolded in front of us and get up to enjoy our night's sleep.


	12. Chapter 12

Wake up. Get ready. Breakfast. Talking. Same routine as normal, but with a little more urgency considering it's the last day before the arena and all.

Today is the day of our group interviews. It's pretty self-explanatory on why the four of us are being interviewed all at once this year. You know… twice as many tributes plus each District working with themselves. Yep. Pretty obvious to me. Anyways!

Monikka, Icirrus, Natalia, and Conrad do not hesitate to jump right into our training. Icirrus starts right into proper posture and composure techniques. Back straight, legs crossed (for girls), ankle resting on other leg's knee (for guys), and big, bright smiles (psh… yeah right).

Natalia and Conrad aren't able to stay long. They get up shortly after we start so they can finish up the rest of our outfits for tonight's ceremonies.

Monikka keeps it short and simple: "Be yourselves." Icirrus surprisingly nods in agreement. We thought he detested our sarcastic and teasing nature, but it turns out our honest selves will have the crowd roaring. "You four just need to act the way you are. You connect and mesh together fabulously! Although, at times, rather crude, your senses of humor are just what my fellow citizens will get a good laugh at! Splendid," Icirrus finishes.

The rest of the practice, we go over possible sample questions: "How do you like the Capitol?", "What is your favorite piece of the special rule change these Games offer?", etc…

Well, we're more ready than we ever will be I suppose.

As Natalia and our prep team are getting us into our outfits, I can't help but feel extremely lucky this year. It's all finally hitting me. Compared to other years, this week leading up to the Games would have been quite awful. Sure there's twice as many tributes, therefore Careers, to worry about, but everything is better with a team. I'm sure my pleasant thoughts will change once inside the arena, but for now, I will enjoy the moment.

Natalia is trying to have us match again with a black, red, and white dress code. I'm wearing a black shirt with a red tie and white pants. Ryann is dressed in a red shirt with a white tie and black pants. Not bad. We look just as good as we did in the Tribute Parade.

We meet up with Conrad, Dani, and Vi. Same color sequence. Vi is wearing a black dress with white shoes and a red fur jacket. Dani is wearing a red dress with black shoes and a white fur jacket. Damn, we are the best looking District if I do say so myself.

"Good luck to each of you. You will be absolutely wonderful," Natalia mentions as she hugs us good-bye.

We march out onto the stage where we will be interviewed. We sit in the gigantic semi-circle with 48 seats surrounding a smaller semi circle with four seats in a row and a single seat in front. We sit back, relax, and enjoy the show.

District 1 comes up strutting their stuff. The guys, Plush and Fab (ohmygod those names are moronic), seem like the typical male Careers. Plush seems more blood-thirsty with his constant threats. Fab doesn't appear too threatening, just cocky. The girls, Emerald and Glory (wtf again), seem just as bad as the guys.

District 2 don't seem as bad, but they still clearly give off the Career vibe. I remember watching them during training. That Katarina is a monster with knives, and even better with her darts.

District 3 doesn't pose too much of a threat. They all seem rather nerdy. However, Deborah seems like someone to watch out for. She seems to take these Games very seriously and she DID score an 8 in training.

District 4 is yet the tamest Career pack of the three. Yet I still wouldn't want to be stuck in a close proximity with any of them. They all received great training scores. They just don't seem to flaunt their stuff as much as the other Careers.

District 5 and 6 all seem to be forgetful. A couple stand out, like Kimi from 5 and Boydd from 6, but I could take them down in a heartbeat. Uh oh… I'm thinking like a Career aren't I? Erm, sorry. Onward to 7!

That awfully reserved girl from Seven answers Vinnie Gooser with a one word answer every single time, after she pauses for five seconds of course. On the contrary, Zeke, Willow, and Wiley all seem to be very prepared. Old Johanna Mason isn't rolling in her grave just yet!

District 8 has the only 12 year old in the Games this year, Maximillian. Besides him, only Rageanne seems to stand out from the team.

District 9 has those pesky tributes that we had the awkward confrontations with in the training center and before the Tribute Parade. Markus is still very quite (not as bad as the Girl from 7). I want to punch Merrirose in the face. She keeps talking about "Me, me, me." Mona and Baxter are tolerable yet still slightly annoying. As their timer rings, the four of us brace ourselves for the interview ahead.

"Now, we would like to present Mathias, Ryann, Violette, and Daniah: the sheriffs and bandits from District 10!" Vinnie announces.

Each of us shake hands with Vinnie and wave to the roaring crowd before we sit down.

Right from the start, Vinnie looks directly at me: "Now, you four made an impressive entrance at the Tribute Parade to provide an excellent first experience for you in the Capitol. How are you liking your living conditions so far?"

Let's start with a flattering comment, then get to the chase: "Well, Vinnie, the Capitol is more than I imagined it would be. I have to admit the people and structures the Capitol provides took my breath away. My only complaint would be my lack of sleep at night."

"Oh, and why is that I might ask?" Vinnie asks, clearly concerned.

"Actually, Vinnie, you might want to ask this guy over here. He might have to make a formal apology to quite a few Capitol citizens onto why there are monsterous whale sounds coming from the 10th floor of the Training Building each night."

The crowd is roaring with laughter. Hmm… it wasn't even that funny. "Yeah, poor Violette and I tried to barricade our door with sheets of metal, but the noise still seeps into our room," Dani adds. More laughter.

Ryann is actually laughing at himself, too. "Now that he mentions it, Vinnie. I might have to apologize to the Capitol citizens after all… for SOMEONE using up all of the city's hot water during his morning showers! Every single day he takes his precious time just to make me wait longer. I swear he leaves the water running even when he gets out. Isn't he a peach?" Ryann retorts.

"Ha!" Vi adds, "You have no room to talk about him not being a 'peach!' What's with the word choice anyways? You sound so masculine. But anyways, you have no room to talk coming from the guy who farts on Dani and I at the dinner table!"

I start cracking up at this point, too. The audience is rolling and Vinnie has to take a minute to collect himself. It's one of those "you had to be there" moments, I suppose.

The discussion somehow gets to the girls making fun of each other, then back to me, then finally back to more common, mature questions for the other three. Finally, Vinnie turns to me one last time as says, "Alright, and for our last question before the timer goes out. Mathias, with your score of 10 in the private training session and all, do you feel as if you are the leader of this group?"

I chuckle at the question before I answer, "Why, Vinnie, look at me. Of COURSE I know I'm the leader of the group. I'm handsome, strong, and hilarious, to add a few." I let the crowds laughter die down before I add, "But in all honesty, no. I've actually never really taken that into consideration. I'm pretty sure the four of us can agree that ALL of us make this a team. We each bring a contribution to this team that another team member couldn't replace. We each lead this team and make it into what it is. I have a feeling District 10 isn't going to be over-shadowed this year by the big dogs, we stand a great fighting chance." And with that, the timer buzzes, the crowd erupts in excitement and cheers, and Vinnie politely dismisses us back to our original seats.

I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off our shoulders. We killed that interview. I know we did. I can tell the other three feel the same way. They're quietly smiling to themselves and even chuckling over the funny parts of our interview all over again.

District 11 takes the stage and we watch as our allies bond with each other in their own ways. They all get along really well, nowhere near us of course, but they have the audience very interested. Mack makes a few jokes here and there. Harper chimes in with her dry, sarcastic humor. Rayven tries to pump of the audiences with her peppiness. Mallow shows his politeness by thanking them for their hospitality. Not bad… not bad.

By the time District 12 hits the stage, I'm so ready to go to pay much attention to what's going on. The older girl, Diedra looks pretty intimidating after receiving an 8 as her training score and all. Little Rosagrace Hawthorne is a sweet girl. She definitely has some spunk in her though, she seems to be a survivor, that one.

As the interviews close, we slowly and tiredly head back to our rooms. The rest of our "team" is there waiting to congratulate us on our hard hitting performance. Monikka even admitted that she laughed a few times at our sarcastic bickering on stage. They send us off to bed after a few celebratory snacks and drinks. I'm about to lay myself down in bed when reality strikes one final moment.

I might not be alive by this time tomorrow.


	13. Chapter 13

**I'll admit right now, this is going to be a short chapter. I wanted the day of the Games to start on a chapter of its own. Thanks! I do not own the **_**Hunger Games**_**.**

It's to no one's surprise that I have hard time falling asleep that night. I'm tossing and turning in my ever-so-soft sheets. Realizing that finding a comfortable spot is a lost cause, I get up out of bed to find that Ryann is wide awake, too.

"You too, huh?" I ask.

"Of course, I'll be happy with getting two hours of sleep tonight," Ryann replies.

"Let's go check on the girls."

We peak into their room to find them talking to each other. They're huddled up in Dani's bed when they look up at us with a start.

"Creeps!" Vi shouts. "This is a girl's room!" Dani finishes.

"Eh, shut up. We can't sleep. Do you want to watch one final Games? Just to preoccupy ourselves, you know?" I ask.

We all agree we should finish the last night with watching one final Games. We decide on watching the 50th Games, to remind ourselves what the Bloodbath is like with twice as many Tributes.

We are looking into the eyes of one of the Girls from 7. When she's done rising from her tube her mouth drops open in awe and wonder. The camera zooms out to the ever-so popular first view of the beautiful arena. Flowers, crystal springs, and meadows covered the grounds with a giant mountain peak in the distance. Although the ring of tributes surrounding the Cornucopia is more spread out than usual, it stills seem extremely cramped. The tributes' pedestals have got to be closer together.

Even though the gong goes off, a few tributes remain on their pedestals still in awe from their surroundings. Not Haymitch Abernathy, the year's winner. He's off and sprinting into the heart of the Cornucopia.

It's mad chaos. Forty-eight tributes are not meant to be confined in one little section of the arena. Arrows are coming out of every direction. Spears and knives are continuously whizzing past tributes and striking the unlucky few. Several tributes avoided the Bloodbath completely and took off for the surrounding woods.

It's still mass chaos even as the Bloodbath dies down. Now it matches the equivalent of any normal Bloodbath. A handful of tributes are still battling it out near the Cornucopia and others are scrambling around for supplies while avoiding the knives and arrows being aimed in their direction.

Eighteen tributes died in the Bloodbath for those Games.

I can slowly see Dani start to drift asleep on her couch as the Games progress. She finally passes out when the remaining Girl from 5 realizes that the drinking water in the arena is poisonous. Vi passes out when the mountain (aka secret volcano) erupts, wiping out half the remaining Tributes. Ryann passes out when the girl from 12 saves her district partner, Haymitch, from the career pack with a poisoned blow dart. And finally, the last thing I remember seeing is that same poor Girl getting taken out by the skewering birds from the arena.

You may be wondering how someone could possibly be falling asleep while watching the Hunger Games? Well, when you're used to seeing the Capitol's replays of these Games hundreds of times like we are, they kind of wear off after awhile.

So here we are on our last night. Each comfortably on our own couch in the living room of our apartment. Fast asleep. Together.


	14. Chapter 14

**Here you go! The Games have finally begun! Aaaaaand… I don't own the **_**Hunger Games**_**. **

Just as unpleasantly as my hen Henrietta from back home, Icirrus awakes us all in the living room the next morning.

Breakfast that day takes place in complete silence. I force a slice of toast with jam, a banana, milk, and orange juice down my stomach. I feel like I won't be able to eat for days. Oh wait… that may be a good thing considering I'm about to be in the HUNGER Games, hahah. Oh wait… I need to stop making wise cracks in a time like this. I tend to get like this when I'm nervous…

We leave our apartment, hopefully not for the final time, and our stylists, escort, and mentor lead us to the hovercrafts that will take us to the chambers under the arena.

Rayven is sitting right next to me on the hovercraft, I nod towards her and she gives a slight, nervous smile back. I really hope we are able to find District 11 when the Games start. Heck… I should be hoping I can find MY district first!

I feel a quick, minor pain coming from the inside of my right forearm as I watch the attendant injecting me with my tracker.

We finally reach the Tribute chambers. A couple of Peacekeepers are escorting me to my individual room. We finally reach the door labeld B1 D10 (Boy 1 District 10?). I walk inside to find Monikka there getting my arena outfit prepared. We nod in each other's direction before I go back into the bathroom to shower up and prepare myself for the most stomach-tying experience I have ever faced.

Once I'm dried off, I leave the bathroom to face Monikka. She actually looks worried, you know, as if she actually cares about us! She hands me my arena outfit and I put it on. It's laced with a special designed fabric that allows the skin to breath in warm temperatures, but then allows the miniscule holes to close up in the colder temperatures. Great, we're probably going to be dealing with hot days and freezing nights…

Next, Monikka offers up her final words of advice, "I know you'll make it out of the Bloodbath. You're strong. Find something useful to use. Don't get caught up in the fighting! First thing when you're done: find the others! Do not search for water until you do, unless you're completely desperate of course. From there… well… good luck." Right when she's done talking, a voice comes across the overheard warning us we have 30 seconds until we need to be in our tubes.

"It's been an honor mentoring you. I have never mentored a set of tributes with the spunk, desire, and determination you four have to offer."

_20 seconds_

I thank her for all that she's done for us. And then, pull her in for a hug. I think I caught her off guard, but she doesn't pull away.

_10 seconds_

I'm shaking in every part of my body as I walk towards my tube. As my tube's door closes in on me, I realize the what a hell of a job Monikka did as our mentor, she really knows her stuff. I may actually miss her while I'm in the arena… and if I don't make it out.

Every nerve in my body is literally about to explode. As if on cue I finally begin to rise, signaling the all the tributes are in their tubes. Monikka waves goodbye as I slowly glide up to the arena.

I may throw up. Forty-eight tributes. So much fear. Ryann, Daniah, Violette, what if they don't make it out? What if I don't make it out? No. No, I can't think that. I need to be strong for the team. If I go in with fear, that will get me nowhere throughout the Games. I begin my first attempts at psyching myself up when I begin to see light coming from the arena.

When the arena finally comes into view, I find that we are in a circular meadow completely surrounded by a wall of trees. Since the trees are too thick to see past, I can't really see what the rest of the arena has to offer. In the middle of the grassy circle lays a random crumbling ruin of sorts. The Cornucopia must lie within this crumbling structure. The marble columns mark the entrance and chunks of marble are scattered across the ground surrounding the ruins. As usual, the weapons and items decrease in power the further out of the Cornucopia they are.

Suddenly, Avenia Templesmith's voice booms throughout the arena, "Ladies and Gentleman, let the 100th Hunger Games begin!" Thus initiating the 60 second countdown.

As expected, the circle of tributes is extraordinarily packed compared to other years. I look to my direct right and find one of the Boys from 12, Praxton. As I glance to my direct left, I find myself in a state of complete horror. My pedestal neighbor, the extremely strange Girl from 7, is taking steps off of her pedestal. She's giving up just like that?! No sooner do her feet hit the ground below her than the explosion rattles arena. I'm instantly doused in her blood and tiny chunks of skin and flesh. I really may throw up now…

I'm somehow able to wipe my eyes clean and look over to her other neighbor, Harper. She has suffered the same fate as me and is equally as appalled. We give each other apologetic looks (even though it was neither of our faults) but get right back to observing our field.

All of the other tributes' eyes are on us with looks of horror, disgust, and in most of the Careers' cases, amusement.

Before I know it, only ten seconds are left. Crap! I haven't looked for my friends. I scan to my left, then right. Thank God. Ryann is four tributes away from me. We make eye contact. I see a bow near the outskirts of the middle. I can't see the girls. The ruins must be blocking the way. The suspense is killing me. _Three. Two. One._

As soon as the gong goes off, I'm running for my life. Literally. So much adrenaline, fear, and determination surrounding me. I'm in an all out sprint when Ryann and I meet up. We must've been quicker than the three tributes between us because no one got in our way as we crossed in front of them.

I see a sheath of bow and arrows near the outskirts of the ruins and make a beeline towards them. Ryann goes for a decently sized sword and backpack combo. Luckily, I get to the bow and arrows before a confrontation with another tribute.

Screams are echoing throughout the ruins as tributes are fighting in the crumbling monument. Knives, spears, and arrows are flying in every which way you glance. Epic battles are underway between tributes fighting it out for supplies. I see Harper boldly challenging the Career from District 4, Brayson. She looks mighty with the scythe she found.

I turn to Ryann and take off. I still see swarms of tributes trying to penetrate the confines of the crumbling ruins to reach the Cornucopia. Besides the Girl form 7, it doesn't look like anyone has died yet. Then, I see a flash. And there she is. The first obstacle in these Games for us, and she's plummeting right towards Ryann's distracted-self.

The monster girl, Josefina, from District 2 is targeting Ryann with a massive spear. I ready my bow. Luckily, she's so focused on getting her first killed that she doesn't even notice me. With all the anticipation, I fumble my release of the arrow and just pray that it hits her and slows her down. My luck is even better. It hits her right in the bottom of the throat, as it instantly spews blood. She's dead before she realizes it hit her. I can hardly believe I just did that…. And to a Career, too! My very first kill…

Alright, no second-guessing. Time to move. Ryann has no time to thank me as we take off running towards the woods, hoping to run into the girls. Suddenly, I find myself hurdling over the motionless figure of Markus, one of the Boys from 9. Damn, this grass is covered in blood from him and all the other dead and wounded tributes. I'm hurdling over another unrecognizable body, but am able to see a '6' on the sleeve, when I realize I should probably find a back-pack of my own. I leave Ryann for a second to take off and find one. As I'm running and trying to grab it at the same time, I trip over and marble slab from the ruin and somehow find myself splattered with more warm blood. But it's not my own. I look down and there at my feet lies yet another Career, Warrick Harris from 2, with a sword sticking out of his back. He was about to slaughter me.

I look up, expecting to face my emanate death from a Career from 1 or 4, but instead see Ryann standing there in complete shock. I have no time to thank him either. I drag him along as we high-tail it out of the mess.

No sooner have we started running then we find ourselves becoming the new target practice victims for Glory and her nifty new knives kit. 'Whack! Whack!' I suffer a blow to the shoulder and Ryann suffers one in the lower arm. We can't afford to hesitate. We continue in full sprint toward the forest. We must be out of reach because I can't hear the whizzing of knives in our direction, probably because the sound is being drowned out by the screams and shouts from the on-going battles at the Cornucopia.

We finally reach the forest and look for a place to rest for the night, hoping to run into the girls (and nobody else) along the way. We stop, tear out the knives from the parts where Glory struck us, and rested. Luckily, she didn't stick us too deep because the blood flow is low and the pain isn't as intense as it should be. Very lucky. We are about to bandaged ourselves when Ryann suddenly shoots upright.

"Well would you look at that," I hear Ryann say as I turn around to find two figures frantically running in our direction, armed with weapons.


	15. Chapter 15

I ready my bow; Ryann plants his feet, sword drawn. It's a good thing Glory didn't hit my shooting arm or I would feel far less comfortable with my bow than I do now. As our assailants edge closer to us, they hesitate a little bit, as if they noticed our weapons.

Out of nowhere, they start flailing their arms in the air and waving their hands. What the…..?

Relief sets in. I notice the distinguished height difference, the long-braided hair, and I can faintly see some double-digit number of the sleeves of their outfits. We ran into the girls…

As they approach us, slower now that they recognized us, I'm able to pick out what they got from the Cornucopia. Vi seems to have suffered a few bruises and scratches. She is carrying a backpack and a knife kit of her own. Dani is suffering a now-ceasing nose bleed, that I bet once looked severe, and a nasty gash across her cheek. She has two backpacks for herself.

When they finally catch up to us, we embrace each other for a very short while, still being on edge from what had just happened. We made it. District 10 has survived the Bloodbath. No time for celebration though. We need to figure out where four people can camp out for the night.

"I think we should keep jogging until nightfall," Ryann starts.

"No. I think we should stay very close to the edge of the forest near the Cornucopia. When the Careers go on their Tribute hunting tonight, they won't expect us to be close by," Vi objects. We all agree with her. Luckily, we are all very capable of maneuvering up a tree, so we share neighboring ones, which in reality are practically part of the same tree since the forest is so dense. Ryann and I share one while Dani and Vi the other.

We sit down and decide we want to her the girls' versions of the Bloodbath, so we let Dani tell their story, right from the beginning:

"Well… I rose from my platform and took in the surrounding arena. Avenia made her announcement and then some movement to the right caught my eye. That annoyingly depressing Girl from District 7, Shelbee or whatever, started walking off her platform! The explosion made me jump, even though I was expecting it, and I saw your and Harper's horrified expressions and blood drenched bodies.

With my slightly disturbed/horrified state, I began to look around the arena again. Katarina, from 2, was on my right chuckling about what just happened and Plush, on my left, was simply shaking his head. I know, how lucky was I? Completely surrounded by Careers. While this kid (she points at me) has a suicidal neighbor and a malnourished Boy from 12.

Anyways, I finally caught sight of Vi on the other side of Plush staring right at me. We nodded. Prepped ourselves. And waited for the gong to sound. …Sorry Ryann, I didn't have time to look for you… The gong went off a couple seconds later and we took off. Plush was slightly ahead of us so we were able to meet up fairly easy.

We hid ourselves behind one of the crumbling pillars so we could find nearby supplies. We saw some a little past the entrance to the ruin. We dashed to the side entrance so we could get the knives and backpacks waiting there.

No sooner did we enter the ruin than Brock, the younger Boy from 2, came bolting into Vi and tackled her to the ground. He hit her across the face and began to raise his axe above his head. Just before he was about to come down with the axe, Vi kicked him off and sent him flying into the wall. I ran up to him and tried to throw him into the wall again. We started to wrestle until Vi shoved him off me. He punched Vi in the stomach and tackled her to the ground again, preparing to strike.

This time, I started to panic until I found a large boulder-like chunk of marble from the rubble on the ground. I picked it up just as Vi was able to kick him off again and throw him into the wall. That was my cue. I hurled the boulder at his head with all my might, and before he could escape, his face was crushed between the wall and the rock.

I thought it was a rather gruesome way to die. I didn't dare look down at the remains of his face. But, I had to save her, plus he was a Career so I didn't feel too bad.

Vi then headed off to grab the knives, uninterrupted this time. We both grabbed a back pack and hightailed it out of the ruins.

The Bloodbath was still in full swing. Oh yeah! We saw Harper take out the Boy from 4! Must have been some battle, she looked pretty shooken up… Other than that our side of the ruin was relatively "quiet" compared to the other side. We saw Wiley, the Boy from 7, challenging Rageanne, from 8. Poor kid didn't stand a chance. Then, we saw Glory flinging a wave of knives at two unlucky victims.

Then we realized! Those "two unlucky victims" were you! Unfortunately, we were far from the point where we saw you escape into the woods. Fortunately, we were able to avoid most of the action in the Bloodbath.

We took a long route around all the fighting and sprinted our lives away to the spot where you disappeared into the forest.

I ended up grabbing another backpack mid-sprint, but then, we were not-so-pleasantly surprised from an ambush from Katarina. Just as we exited the cloud of smoke still spewing from Shelbee's exploded pedestal, she popped out and whacked her club right across my face, hitting my nose and slicing open my cheek.

I stumbled a little, but continued running, trying to outrun the beast. To my surprise, she didn't even notice Vi, who was trailing a couple of yards behind – "Darn short-people's stride," Vi interjected- so Vi started flinging knives at her.

She missed her target just as I dodged a blow to the back from Katarina's club. And we continued the chase through the entrance of the woods. She must've been determined to get us or something, because the chick just wouldn't give up. She then decided to try and hit at my feet with the club to try and trip me up. However, she was close enough behind me that I could tell when she swung, so I jumped and dodged the whacks every time. I was getting exhausted. My lungs were about to explode. My legs were jelly.

Just when I felt like I was about to keel over and die, I heard her scream and thud against the ground. I turn around to see Vi still in her follow-through motion and Katarina with a knife in her back. We look at each other in disbelief… I mean…we had each taken the life of a Career tribute.

She thanked me for a split second, then we took off running again.

Finally, to our pleasant surprise, we found you two, apparently preparing to attack us."

The sun had started to set as her story came to an end. We sat there in silence for a little until Ryann interrupted it "Wow…" We all stare at him, waiting for him to continue. "Well don't you realize what the four of us did?" No response. "Dani offed Brock. Vi offed Katarina. I offed Warrick. Mathias offed Josefina. We took out the entire Career pack from District 2…." As we stare off into space understanding that we were all very fortunate to still be alive after the opponents we have faced today, we begin to realize the effect this is probably having on the Capitol.

This has to be a first. Four, I mean five careers (counting the Boy from 4), dead in the Bloodbath.

As I'm thinking about this, I'm beginning to wonder why the canon hasn't soun- BOOM! Of course, now it decides to go off. We all start counting to ourselves. One… two… three…sixteen…seventeen…eighteen, but no more follow.

I'm able to still see the Cornucopia from the spot I'm sitting at in my tree. I can pick out about half the bodies lying on the ground. The rest must be out of my field of vision or inside the ruins. The external walls of the ruins are splattered with blood and the grass looks like it has been sprayed by a sprinkler of the warm, red liquid. Nasty, I know. Now imagine how we feel, knowing we just took part in that chaotic scramble.

Just as the canons finish, night falls which initiates the start of the daily anthem. The faces of the dead are shown in numerical order. Brock, Katarina, Warrick, and Josefina all appear one after another. I can almost hear the gasps from the surviving tributes echoing throughout the arena. After them are Bryson and Deborah from 3. Brayson appears next from District 4. Both boys from 5 are gone. Lee (he must have been the second person I hurdled over) and Ciara from 6 didn't make the cut. Wiley and Shelbee both appear from 7. Emilee from 8. Markus and Merrirose from 9. It skips over us and 11, good! Our "friends" made it out alive. And it finishes with Praxton and Diedra from 12.

A few surprises from the field of the dead, but in the end, it's unsettling nonetheless.

Eighteen tributes dead in the Bloodbath: five of them Careers; all of District 2 gone. I wonder what District 2 is thinking right now. They must hate us… How can they though? It's kill or be killed after all.

And the four of us have the blood of one taken life on each of our hands.


	16. Chapter 16

I'm trying to run through the list of surviving/potential threats of tributes in my head as I prepare myself to go to "sleep" that night. The faces of all the dead tributes still giving me chills.

I check my bandages from my knife wound and realize that they will suffice through the night and into the next morning. Everyone else's wounds seem to be doing fairly well, too, so we start rummaging through our backpacks, looking for a little snack before we rest through the night.

I find some granola, dried meat, nuts and berries, a sleeping bag, a chord, and a canister. The others find similar things in theirs. We get out our stuff, snack on some of our food, and let exhaustion get the best of us.

…

I'm jolt awake with a start. It's still dark outside. I look around to see that the other three heard the same thing I did. Screaming.

We look down to the forest floor. I hear the pattering of feet and several twigs and branches snapping and crushing. The moonlight is shining directly on the path below, so we can see the happening underneath us.

That's when he… or should I say they? WOAH! Definitely they. Anyways, that's when they come into view. The snooty boy from 12, Coy, is in a mad dash away from five of the Careers. They must've left two to guard the Cornucopia…

The Careers are all carrying torches while Coy has just got himself and a puny flashlight. The dumb thing is probably what gave him away in the first place. Stupid kid…

It was only a matter a time before we heard the bloodcurling scream and the canon that followed. BOOM! 19 down.

We see the Careers walking back from their recent massacre, laughing and mocking the poor kid that tried to put up a fight. I can see that Fab is actually holding his head in a tad bit of pain. HA! The trooper must have thrown his flashlight at him in his last act of defense. Good for him.

In Emerald's hand is a single bloody club, still dripping from the recent attack. They're right below us now.

We take a breath in and keep as still as possible. Please don't notice us. Please don't notice us. Please don't notice us.

Phew… they must have been too distracted on their first non-bloodbath kill that they obliviously walked right away from us sitting ducks. We look at each other in relief and try to continue our slumber, no matter how hard it will be with what we just witnessed.

….

_I'm standing in a ruined city. The skyscrapers I've heard about from histories of the old world tower over the arena. It's down to me and a monstrous looking boy from District 1. As funny as it may seem, it kind of looks like all of this year's tributes from 1 (yes, even the girls) combined. So pretty much one HUGE powerhouse._

_I finally see him. I know very well that I will not be able to beat him in hand-on-hand combat so I make a run for it, trying to distance myself so I can get a good aim at him with my arrows. I run into the nearest building and head straight for the dark, unlit staircase._

_I dash up flights and flights of stairs, as if I was in a never-ending chase. Finally, I find myself on the top of the building. I run near the edge of the roof. The monster tribute comes plowing through the door straight at me with his machete._

_I see that the nearest building's roof is in jumping distance so I begin to jump from roof to roof in this condense and packed city._

_I'm on the fifth building's roof when I see that the next roof is a little farther than the others. I take yet another leap of faith. I miss._

_I'm falling. Falling…falling…falling._

_The ground is approaching faster than ever, but it still never seems to come._

_What seems like minutes later, I'm only a hundred feet from splatting against the ground._

_I'm approaching it aaaaaaaaaaand… SPLASH!_

_Wait, what? SPLASH?_

I'm choking on a mouthful of water. WHAT THE HELL?! Where am I?! I finally surface myself and see my friends surfacing one-by-one above the water. I collect myself and begin to tread. I look over to where the Cornucopia once stood. It's gone…

I begin to realize what's happening. The Gamemakers are finally adding their touch into this year's Quell. They haven't been able to do these cruel, yet brilliant, new touches due to the lack of supplies until recently, but now….

A scenery changing arena. Great. What if we were to land on sharp ro—and as if on cue, two cannons sound before I can finish the word "rocks."

Looks like two unlucky souls didn't have nice, water landings like us.

The Cornucopia must have sunk to the bottom of this… uh… Lake? Pond?

I swim towards the other three so we can collect ourselves together before we find out what the heck we're going to do. Dani and Vi look like drenched rats and Ryann is still chocking up water when I see her.

Misty Everfar. And she's swimming right at us. Not so "far" away after all. With a harpoon in her mouth. Fantastic.

**I know it's a relatively short chapter, sorry. Three total tributes dead is this one. That leaves the known dead tributes at: Brock, Katarina, Warrick, and Josefina from 2. Bryson and Deborah from 3. Brayson from 4. Micah and Brodie from 5. Lee and Ciara from 6. Wiley and Shelbee from 7. Emilee from 8. Markus and Merrirose from 9. And Praxton, Coy, and Diedra from 12. Oh yeah, and two unknown tributes from the fall/change in scenery. Thanks! Hope you enjoy it so far.**


	17. Chapter 17

And I thought District 4 tributes were the "nice" Careers…. Looks like the Games got the best of her. Well of course they did, I mean, after all there's a reason she is a Career.

Fortunately, she's not close enough to get a good aim with her harpoon, but if we don't move soon, then we're dead meat. I guarantee you she can handle her weapon very well. Harpoon = for fishing = District 4 = Misty. Yeah… pretty much. And we're her fish…

We somehow manage to get a grasp on all of our falling material before we take off in the opposite direction of Misty's pursuit. The other Careers are behind her trying to catch up. We can hear them chanting her on.

I'm swimming with all my might and strength, being a little selfish by not taking into account where the other three are in relation to me… or worse, in relation to Misty. I try to ignore the pains shooting from my shoulder from where Glory hit me with a knife during the Bloodbath, and I'm starting to overcome it. After fighting against the sudden current that came out of nowhere (damn Gamemakers), I reach the shore first.

I throw off my backpack and prepare my bow and arrow. I lost some of the arrows in the water, but I have enough to last me awhile. The Careers behind Misty see me at the ready with my bow and arrows. They may not be too intelligent, but even they realize that I definitely have the upper hand in this situation. I'm already set and ready outside of the water while they are sitting ducks inside the water. Even if they want to pick a fight with me after risking swimming the rest of the way to me, I have my arrow ready, and one release will send them out of the Games.

Misty stays in pursuit. Great. Dani comes to shore next, she prepares herself with the knife she had in her backpack. CRAP! Misty surged forward in her strokes and is readily approaching Violette, who is slightly behind Ryann.

Suddenly, Vi lets out a yelp and her body disappears from the surface of the water. Ryann realizes what's happening and doubles around to help her. Misty appears to be submerging Vi's body under water to drown her. Ryann lunges at Misty and strikes her in the face.

I'm beginning to panic now, there's no way Vi and Ryann can overtake Misty in her comfort zone, they just recently learned how to swim. I am so ready to fire my arrow. I'm just afraid I'll hit my friends instead of Misty.

Dani is panicking, saying that she should go in. "No! The Careers will see you and go back in to help Misty if there's more interference." Misty turns to Ryann and gets the best of him, she has him underwater now. I'm not quite sure why she hasn't used her harpoon yet, maybe she's waiting for the "for sure" moment.

Vi collects herself after chocking down a gallon of water and tries to pry Misty off Ryann. I think she's catching on to my positioning with the arrows because she's trying to clear out of the way and set Misty straight into my line of aim.

Finally, when I realize they are both out of harms way, I send an arrow flying just as she strikes Ryann across the face. Jackpot. I hit her arm and she grasps it in pain. Ryann and Vi take this as a cue to make a mad dash to shore. We don't want to mess with her more, even if she is weakened now. She dives underwater and swims back to the rest of the Careers on the other side of the lake, her trail of blood in the water following her.

Now would be the perfect time for an ambush against us from a team of tributes on our side of the lake. The exhaustion of the recent attack takes a toll on all of us and we understand that that was our first dose of the Games since the Bloodbath. It's weird that Dani and I are tired since we weren't doing any of the fighting, the exhaustion must be contagious then, because Vi and Ryann have enough of it for the four of us. We need to sit and relax somewhere.

I finally get the chance to look at the new surroundings besides the obvious lake. In front of us lies a grassy and flowery meadow with a mountain at the edge in the far distance. I can actually spot a group of around seven tributes traveling in a pack around the middle of the mountain. The thought of pursuiting them crosses my mind for a split second, but then quickly goes away. We're dead tired, they are about a mile away, and they outnumber us by three. No thank you.

There are several dips and shrubs that we could conceal ourselves in in the vast meadow, so we begin to look for shelter.

We fill up our canisters, collect our belongings, realize we didn't lose too many supplies in the attack, and begin our search for a rest area.

When I'm getting my water, I realize that the other side of the lake is practically a mirror image of our side. Interesting…

After searching for a space big enough for the four of us, we finally find a dip/hole in the ground with sufficient enough covering to hide us for a short while.

After cleaning up Vi and Ryann's recent injuries and touching up all of our Bloodbath scars, we set out to go hunting, berry gathering, and…uh.. bathroom breaking.

The girls went to look for plants, herbs, and berries and us manly men went hunting (ha…). We didn't do too bad for ourselves either. Ryann took down two rabbits and a wild turkey looking creature and I trapped several squirrels. Combined with the plants, roots, and berries, this should hold us over until tomorrow.

"Hey I have to find somewhere to take a leak. I've been holding it in since we got here," I say to Ryann. "Yeah, sure thing. I'll watch over everything while you go look for a concealed place to use the bathroom."

After walking a couple hundred yards, I finally find an area concealed by many bushes and trees and start my bathroom break.

I'm finishing up and start collecting all my stuff together. I get my bookbag on my back and take in the eerie silence surrounding me. I hear a twig break. I dive immediately to the ground, only to find a pick-axe looking weapon lodged into the tree I was previously standing in front of.

I immediately scuttle to get my back up against the tree and see my attackers. The two Girls from 5. Kimi, the significantly stronger one must've thrown the pick-axe because she's collecting the rest of her belongings as she pursuits me. Fiona, the miserably weak one, is almost to my spot, sprinting at me with a knife.

Out of nowhere, a scythe comes spinning horizontally right into the side of Fiona, almost splitting her in two, splattering blood everywhere. Her cannon sounds as she's hitting the ground. Kimi sees the same horror right in front of her eyes and takes off in the opposite direction, escaping the scene with her quickness and agility.

I'm fumbling around with my bow and arrow, trying to prop one onto the sheath when I see my savior/potential assaulter make her way through the bushes. She is followed closely behind by three more Tributes from her district. Looks like I've finally met up with our allies.

"Well, nice seeing you here. Glad to see all of you are still in one piece," I start. Some of them have sustained injuries from or since the Bloodbath. Mack is probably in the worst state out of all of them. Apparently he had an unpleasant landing this morning into a thornbush, so his skin is distorted with scratches and tears throughout. He's still able to function well enough on his own.

"I mean, It looks like you had it under control, but we figured we should intervene to make it easier for you," Mallow jokes.

We decide to clear out of the area so the hovercraft can retrieve the body just as Ryann comes bounding through the bushes, sword in hand and a look of terror upon his face. "Mathias! Mathias! What is-" He finally comes into view and realizes that the situation is taken care of. "I heard the commotion all the way back from my spot. I thought you were killed! Thank goodness for you four," Once Ryann catches his breath, Harper collects her scythe, and I calm myself down, we clear out of the area to avoid further confrontation (although we could probably dominate any attacker except for the Careers due to our doubling of the numbers).

Dani and Vi are both pleasantly surprised with our recent additions, and after nagging at me for not being more careful when I was by myself, we all start figuring out our camp we are going to use for the night.

"We need to make sure it's some place that's safe from the arena's changing scenery, so we really have no choice but to stay on the ground," Dani starts.

"Yeah, we really don't want another repeat of last night. My ass is still killing me from the fall," Harper adds.

"Right, so we'll have shifts to keep watch. I'll go first once y'all fall asleep," Ryann finishes.

We find a nice sheltered area that could easily conceal 8 of us in the midst of bundles of shrubbery several hundred meters away from the lake. After throwing all of our catches of the day in the middle of our circle, we feast on the squirrels, rabbits, and berries the eight of us found. While we replenish our hungers, we laugh and joke about our disastrous first days.

The latter half of the day has been peacefully quiet. As the sun sets, I find myself thinking about the same orange wonder in the sky back in District 10. District 10. My family. A huge twinge of guilt settles within me as I realize this is one of the first times I think about my family back home. My parents. My little sisters. Damien. How do they think of me know that I have officially become a "killer"? I keep forgetting the main reason I need to win is for them and my District friends here.

My thoughts all leave me once the anthem starts and the Fallen tributes appear in the sky. The first to appear is the Girl from 5 that Harper saved me from. The next two must have been the ones from this morning from when the arena changed… the last two District 9 tributes. Woah…District 9 has officially been eliminated from the competition… eerie. Coy's, from 12, face is the last to appear in the sky.

One death last night and only three deaths today. Ha… only. The rest of the night is relatively quiet as we all drift off into a relatively peaceful slumber…

**Sorry about the huge delay! School has been crazy and all my professors want to add all these tests and projects at the same time (yaaaaaay). Here's a list of the deaths so far:**

**from the Bloodbath:**

**Shelbee Barker (7): suicide (the rest in no particular order)…**

**Brock Gibson (2): Skull smashed by Daniah**

**Katarina Thomas (2): Knifed in the back by Violette**

**Warrick Harris (2): Stabbed through the back by Ryann**

**Josefina Morales (2): Shot in the throat by Mathias**

**Bryson Brady (3): Speared by Sandrine**

**Deborah Jameson (3): Hacked away by Plush's mace**

**Brayson Neartide (4): Sliced by Harper's scythe**

**Micah Andres (5): Axed by Willow**

**Brodie Braxton (5): Beaten by Emerald's club**

**Lee Andrick (6): Knifed in the back by Glory**

**Ciara Daley (6): Neck snapped by Fab**

**Wiley Birchwood (7): Throat slit by Rageanne**

**Emilee Gilmore (8): Hacked away by Zeke's axe**

**Markus Osterman (9): Double knifed in the back by Glory**

**Merrirose Blackbird (9): Sliced up by Plush's sword**

**Praxton Kepheart (12): Skull smashed against the ruin wall by Fab**

**Diedra Hangleton (12): Impaled by Samuel's trident**

**The rest of the Games:**

**19- Coy Farrow (12): Clubbed to death by Emerald**

**20- Mona Briggs (9): Fall during the scenery change**

**21- Baxter Morgan (9): Fall during the scenery change**

**22- Fiona Westhill (5): Struck by Harper's scythe**


	18. Chapter 18

**Hey guys! Hope you enjoy this chapter. I do not own the **_**Hunger Games**_**! That my friends belongs to good ole Suzy Collins.**

I'm shook awake with a start. Rayven is waking me up for my shift.

"Hey, are you okay? You were a little quiet last night?" I ask her.

Although it's still pretty dark outside, I'm pretty sure she's blushing. "Oh no! It's nothing! I was… I just… I didn't have much to say I guess," she replies as she fumbles with her words.

Mack must have not been sleeping because he suddenly chimes in, "Yeah right! Rayven was just making sure that her lover boy is still alive! She was worried the entire time before the anthem, hehehe."

Now I can definitely tell she's blushing. "Ooooh really? Who, may I ask?"

"Boydd from 6!" Mack answers. "She thinks he's sooooo dreamy. She and he got to be pretty close in the training room."

I can't help but laugh at Mack and feel pity for Rayven at the same time. It must be taking a huge toll on her being away from him and not knowing his fate. No wonder she hasn't been acting like her usual peppy self. She's become eerily quiet.

"Haha, well he's not a bad choice, Ray. He seems like a genuinely nice guy!" I reassure her.

"Thanks, Mathias. Just keep it on the down low please. I don't really want the others pestering me about it. I know it's silly to fall in love with somebody in this kind of situation, but I just couldn't help it. We sort of… connected, haha," she finishes.

"I'm sure he'll be fine, Rayven. He seems to have a good idea what he's doing," I say.

"Thanks, Mathias. I appreciate it." And with that she and Mack both slowly drift off to sleep.

…

One doesn't realize how boring and long sitting by themselves is until they experience it Hunger Games style. It's been such a quiet night. I haven't even heard any sounds from animals or other tributes. The arena still hasn't changed either.

Then, out of nowhere, a bloodcurling scream echoes across the lake. The sound of a canon soon follows. Shouts and yells begin to echo out and the sounds of swords clashing echo from the other side of the lake. Looks like the Careers are finally turning on each other…

My allies have all woken up to listen to the battle going across the lake. After about two minutes, another canon sounds and all the fighting noises cease. As bad as it sounds, I kind of wish more than two would've gone down. But at least they are all separated within their Districts now instead of altogether. I suggest that they all go back to sleep, but by the sounds of their breathing, I can tell none of them really do. I don't blame them. I'm wide awake now, as well.

I'm beginning to settle into boredom again when I hear a beeping sound coming from the sky. I smile creeps onto my face. Our first sponsor gifts! Looks like we are liked after all! As the parachutes all land, I see that our District 11 allies have received the same oddly shaped gifts as well. As I pull one of them in, I see that it's a warm, winter coat. A pair of gloves and a stocking cap rest within the pockets of each coat.

I wake up the group to tell them about our new gifts. I can't help but feel I can predict what the next arena change is going to be….

No sooner are we all up and putting our new coats on than the first drops of snow begins to fall from the sky. The next thing to happen totally amazes me. The ground disappears into darkness as these green three-dimensional lines begin to form and give rise to the new surface and scenery of the arena. Even though there's a dark hole beneath our feet, we remain in one place in an upright position. Finally, from the ground on up the daily arena slowly begins to form into a wintery wonderland. Tall snow-capped evergreen trees form all around us. The ground is covered with white, sparkling snow. The crystal-like snowflakes continue to fall from the sky. The large lake to our left has disappeared into a snowy pine forest. The mountain behind us has flattened down into iced tundra. I wonder if the tributes scaling it the other day were smart enough to not too high up, I would assume yes since I haven't heard a canon yet.

"Beautiful… isn't it?" Ryann observes. "A little too beautiful."

"I think it's sick," Harper replies. "They're shaping this hell-on-earth situation into a light, calm setting. If only they knew…"

We all continue to stare at our new surroundings for a couple of more minutes until Rayven cuts in with a much more forceful tone than normal, "Enough of this. Let's move. Now." Mack and I turn and frown at each other in confusion.

We start heading out in a staggered formation to help the spread for looking out for attackers. Ryann approaches me and we start acting like our goofy selves again and try to make "snow" jokes (don't ask). Ryann nudges me, "Oh hey, I have a good one!" Ryann starts. "Listen to this… Hey Mallow!"

"What?!" He shouts back.

"What did one snowman say to the other?"

"Uh…."

"It smells like carrots! Hahahah."

All of us bust out laughing due to the corniness (or should I say carrotiness) of the joke. Even Rayven in her weird funk lets out a couple of chuckles. We are all enjoying ourselves, laughing, and throwing snow at each other. You'd think it curious that a nearby twig snapping in the woods is all it takes to bring us back to our senses. We are in the Hunger Games. We are making a lot of noise. We could be attracting the Careers… or worse.

Well would you look at that, my wildest dreams have come true! Looks like the first of the Mutts have made its way through the evergreen trees toward our direction. The majestic creature appears beautiful, but extremely lethal. I've never seen anything like it before. The head, wings, and talons of an eagle with the body of a… lion would be my guess. The piercing red eyes stare the 8 of us down. The razor sharp talons dig into the snow setting its ground. Suddenly, it opens its beak and lets out a piercing scream, making us cringe. Well! It doesn't have to give me a second warning. With that, the 8 of us make a mad dash in the opposite direction and start heading toward the lake, praying it can't swim.

I'm not sure how many others it called to help its cause in trying to slaughter us, but I don't want to turn around and find out. I'm making my way near the edge of the lake with Ryann and I leading the pack, when I hear Mack cry out in pain.

I pivot around as quickly as possible and see Harper already bolting towards the scene with her scythe at the ready. The original beast we saw is hovering over Mack trying to tear chunks off his body; luckily he seems to have dodged most of the strikes. Harper seems to surprise the beast when she buries the scythe in its neck, making it fall to the ground. Rayven decapitates the monster with her sword to finish it off.

Once I ready my bow and prepare for the worst, two more identical Mutts dash their way into the scene. I can't help but to feel relieved that the Gamemakers left us with only three of them to deal with. They must've not appreciated us making light of the situation with our jokes and snow throwing, so this is their idea of bringing us back to reality.

Harper picks up the injured Mack from his spot and sets him against the tree out of harm's way and has the completely shocked Rayven to watch over him. Ryann, Vi, Dani, and I finally bound into the scene and begin slashing, shooting, and jabbing at the two beasts.

One of them lurches into the air and strikes Mallow in the arm with one of its talons. Ryann strikes at the leg that struck Mallow and slices it completely off. The beast gets furious and somehow propels himself into Ryann pinning him against a tree. Suddenly, Dani finds a way to hop on its back. I'm shooting at him to take his distraction off Dani and Ryann, but my arrows don't seem to be affecting it too much. I advert my aim towards its eyes. BINGO.

As the arrow penetrates its eye, the beast stops bucking and collapses in pain. With this cue, Dani plunges her knife into the back of its neck, silencing it forever. The three of us collect ourselves and hurry over to help Mallow, Harper, and Vi with the other one.

They've done their fair share of damage to it thanks to Vi's knives and Harper's slashing scythe. The beast lurches into the air to take flight. This surprises us all and Mallow even falls to the ground in shock. I mean, I guess we shouldn't be too surprised due to the wings and all, but it still caught us off guard. It picks up a good air current, circles around us, and comes plunging down right over Mallow.

Vi screams, "Mallow, now!" And with that he slashes his sword upright into the air, right in the beast's chest. The beast collapses to the ground in front of Mallow.

We embrace one another knowing that we are beaten up but still in one piece. Rayven and Mack join in on our huddle; Rayven has still yet to say a word, wide-eyed and shaken up.

We stare at the aftermath for a few moments. This once beautiful, snowy, forested circle now appears to be its own bloodbath on the snow-covered ground. Some of it is from our own battle wounds. Most of it is from the Mutt victims we ruthlessly slaughtered. Once again, I understand it still follows the whole "kill or be killed" outlook, but one thing is for sure certain after what just went down. We all are natural born killers.


	19. Chapter 19

We are finally able to take our eyes of the mess. Dani breaks open her kit she got at the Cornucopia and starts tending to Mack's, Ryann's, and Mallow's wounds. After patching them up and padding them with herbs to ease the pain. We do our best to shake off the scare and set out again. Vi makes a good point to hike over to the Careers' old camp and look for any supplies they may have left behind after they scrambled out of the area. We are assuming this all, of course. For all we know, they could be waiting for us there ready to ambush us, which is why we're proceeding with the upmost caution.

The hike is long and strenuous. The cold and the wind combined with the long walk are taking a toll on our bodies. After a couple of rest stops, we decide to hunt for some lunch.

The pickings are tough, but we finally capture a few wild turkey and rabbits hiding in the snow. Mallow starts us a good fire so we can cook the meat and warm some of our numb limbs. The turkey settles well with our hunger. We pull out our water canteens and find that they are luckily not frozen.

We get up. Extinguish the flame. And make our way out through the final stretch to the Career camp.

I'm not sure how much longer I can take this "wintery wonderland" arena. Tomorrow's change better be "tropical paradise." Well, if we make it tomorrow that is. My gloves aren't really drying out so my hands have become very cold due to the wetness of the gloves and the frigid air temperatures.

I guess I didn't realize how big this lake actually was. Definitely larger than the lake we fell in on the first arena change. The edges of the lake are beginning to freeze as the temperatures get colder and colder. One can only wonder if the other tributes received sponsor coats and gloves, too.

Something then catches my eye. From the other side of the lake I see trees starting to sway and some topple over, followed by a deafening roar. A series of bloodcurling screams, both from girls and boys, sound throughout the area of the lake. Yet still no canon sounds…

We all look at one another in horror, although I'm pretty sure we are all thinking we are grateful that we didn't have to deal with whatever THAT was, this still sends us into a panic. Even though it was nearly on the opposite side of the lake, we have no clue what direction it was moving in or how fast it was moving in said direction. We decide our best option is to carry on with a greater sense of urgency. We individually take turns walking backwards at the back of the pack to check for potential attackers. It may become a pain after awhile, but it gives us all a sense of comfort in a time and area in which we have a very sparse amount of it.

I'm trying to get my mind off the recent events, so I start talking to Harper about her District. She tells me that Mack and she are harvesters. They were friends before the Reaping, too, since they were in the same fields as each other. Their area was responsible for beans. She told me how cruel the Peacekeepers were in her District. It's pretty understandable considering how available the food is there. I'm not saying it's right of course! I'm just saying that it's easy for starving people to break the law when they have food sitting right in front of their faces the entire time.

It's pretty similar to the livestock back home. People get caught stealing chickens and hens. The punishments are cruel. Don't even get me started on the punishments for stealing cows and bulls, but those are much harder to accomplish for obvious reasons.

Harper is about to tell me about Rayven and Mack's positions back in their District when I crash right into Dani. She stopped right in the middle of the path. I'm confused to what she's staring at, but then I finally focus in on it.

In the near distance, blotches of blood are splattered against the snow covered evergreen trunk. Either we're finally at the old Career camp, or some other group of people took out some different variation of Mutt just like us.

As we slowly edge our way closer to the scene, I'm beginning to think it's the first guess due to the lack of bodies. Unless Mutts' bodies are removed, as well. As we enter a clearing, half expecting to see a horrifying scene of a terrible aftermath, we find nothing but a few scattered weapons and some spilled food here and there. Then it's all coming back to me… the Career's turned on each other before the arena change, so the aftermath is below this thick blanket of snow. The splatter on the tree most certainly is from the post-battle scramble once the arena changed.

They must have left in a hurry. Dani retrieves the axe lying on the ground, Vi adds the scant knives to her collection, Harper grabs the food, and I grab a throwing axe. It must have been hectic if they left these precious materials behind!

We decide to camp here for the night. We are able to get some fish out of the unfrozen areas of the lake and started a fire. Huddled around the fire, we all start becoming ourselves again. Even Rayven is starting to lighten up! We're ranting and raving about each other's performance against the Mutt attack while enjoy our fresh water fish and warm water (which is very satisfying right about now).

We're sharing smiles and jokes and laughter, very un-Hunger Games-esque behavior. Mack is giving his best mocking impressions for each of us while we laugh at his goofily accurate depictions.

As expected, at the happiest time, the potentially most unsettling canon of the Games so far sounded eerily close to us.

Our reactions are very strange and debatably stupid. Maybe we're asking for another fight. Maybe we're just mad that someone ruined our "happy time" and want to get back at them. But, we all find ourselves rushing to the area the sound of the canon initiated from.

It isn't going to be too hard to find it. A commotion (probably fighting) has broken out from the recent death scene. Weapons are clashing and clanging and the two (I think, by the sounds of it) are screaming.

We are quickly approaching the scene when I see the battered remains of Bianka from 6. I remember her because she did wonders with her throwing knives in training. Then, the gut-wrenching feeling settles in… one of the people in the fight must be the final living member from 6. We all turn to Rayven. The increasing color change of her face shows that she realizes it too. She takes off faster than anything I've seen, trying to reach the scene of the ongoing battle with every ounce of energy she has left.

We shouldn't be doing this! We shouldn't be doing this! We need to leave them alone to avoid distractions! Of course my stupid self doesn't say any of this. Because when Rayven reaches the scene first and screams, "NO!" The rest appears to be all too gruesomely predictable.

The world has turned to slow motion. Boydd stops fighting for a second to see who the scream belonged to. That's when I see her, Kimi. The Girl from 5 who tried to kill me earlier. She doesn't flinch at all. With one swing of her lethal battle axe, she clears Boydd's head right from his neck just as the Rayven-recognizing smile had begun to etch on his face. His head ever-so woefully fitting rolls in front of Rayven's distraught, motionless figure.

**Sorry about the gruesome ending! It is the Hunger Games after all! What did you expect? Sprinkles and fairy dust? And yes, apparently I think that adding double letters to a name makes said name specific to Panem (Boydd, Monikka, Ryann, probably half the others). Haha, oops! It's not easy making up weird names, so I kind of get lazy sometimes. Oh yeah, and I don't own the **_**Hunger Games**_**!**


	20. Chapter 20

…Now switch to fast forward. The next few events were a blur. The canon went off somewhere in this period of time. It started with Kimi slowly escaping into the woods behind her and taking off once she reached the trees. Rayven sunk to the ground in despair; her face in her hands and her shoulders bouncing up and down in a clear sobbing motion.

Vi slowly approached her to provide comfort. She knelt down to give Rayven a hug. When the hug broke, Rayven remained motionless, staring directly at Vi.

That's when something snapped. It's definitely not uncommon in the Games: a person losing it. Nothing is left of her, no conscious, no feeling of right or wrong, nothing except the ability to kill.

Before we know it, she throws Vi on the ground stabs her in the abdominal area. And takes off in the same direction in which Kimi disappeared.

We're too shocked to move, speak, or react in any other way. Mack finds his words first as he starts panicking about Vi, and yells after Rayven to come back. But it's too late, she's long gone. She'll find Kimi at around nightfall by how fast she was moving.

Dani rushes over to Vi with her medicine bag. She tears open the lower part of her uniform and starts doing her best at patching things up. Thank God we have her. It looks nasty and deep.

"It'll be fine," Dani starts, although there's a hint of questioning in her tone.

"What can we get for you?" asks Mallow. "Is there anything we can do?" Mack follows. " Do you need another hand?" continues Harper.

It's clear they feel guilty about this. After all, it was their fellow District tribute that went berserk and tried to kill one of my best friends.

"No, it's best if you just give me some time and space," Dani replies.

"You guys, really I'm fine. It's just a scratch!" Vi pleads as she struggles to get the words out.

"You're full of it! Look at that thing. No, she made her mark, that's for sure. Come on, let's start the fire," Ryann finishes.

We're all spaced out on the other side of the fire from Dani and Vi. You can hear them quietly talking to themselves . This is probably Dani's way of keeping Vi from passing out. She's got a nasty wound to deal with that one. Luckily she's in the right hands. Dani keeps reassuring us that it hadn't hit anything vital and that she has almost stopped the bleeding.

It's lucky that Dani has steady hands or she might have screwed up her procedure with what we heard next: more screaming. Wait, no, this is different….. Pleading. Coming from somewhere behind our camp.

"NO! NO! Please! What are you doing?! I didn't know! Stop! Wait! I'm s-" Her words were finished with the "boom" of her canon.

Uneasiness, panic, confusion, and fear all begin to set in. Kimi must have been close. Too close. That means Rayven could be back any minute. Would she turn on us too? Most definitely. What are we going to do?! Vi is in no condition for a mad scramble or traveling in general.

We brace ourselves, circle around the injured Vi and the still working Dani, and prepare for the worst.

I can see Kimi's hovercraft coming to pick-up her body. To my utter disgust, I see the claw come down one, two, three, FOUR times until it finishes picking up her body. I may vomit…

We soon hear snow crunching and see Rayven's figure appear behind one of the trees.

We're at a stand-still for a good 15 seconds. Finally, Mack turns to us and says, "I think I can come across to her you guys . We were close back home, too. I can try to bring up memories to bring her out of this awful state." We are all very weary with this suggestion, but the kid seems to know what he's doing so we let him have a go at it.

He tells us to lower our weapons as he cautiously approaches her.

She surprisingly doesn't retaliate when he reaches her. We can't hear what the two of them are saying. We see the occasional head shake or nod.

Unexpectedly, Rayven leans over to whisper something in his ear. We presumed it as a good sign!

Only it wasn't a look of joy on his face when Rayven pulled back, it was that of upmost fear. Before we had time to process his expression, she threw him against the tree with all her might. That's when the axe came whizzing past my body from someone behind me.

The next image will plague my nightmares for years to come. Mack saw the axe coming, yelled "No!", and pushed off the tree to jump right in front of Rayven, taking the axe directly in his chest. I turned around to see Dani standing up with a look of horror and disbelief on her face. She threw the axe.

Rayven seemed confused for a second. She then pulled out her knife and was about to carry out the finishing blow to Mack.

This time. I was prepared. But so was Harper. I sent my arrow flying into Rayven's back while Harper sent her body flying with one swing of her scythe. Rayven's canon sounded upon impact of the ground.

We all stared at each other in complete silence. One little cough from the struggling Mack was all it took to send us all into our own emotional breakdowns.

It was too much. Everything that happened today: Rayven's betrayal brought on by her craziness, Vi's severe wound, Mack's sacrificial leap, Boydd's beheading, even the Careers' turning on each other added to the emotional stress.

Ryann, Dani, and I huddle around Vi as we wept together and watched Mallow and Harper comfort Mack in his final moments alive.

Mack… leaving behind his little siblings. He's only 13. 13 years old and he's fighting for his life. Absolutely sickening. My tears turn to tears of anger and hate. Hate for the Capitol. Hate for the Games. Hate for myself for not yelling back at the Boydd and Kimi fight scene. I don't hate Dani for what she did. She was trying to save Mack. She didn't tell him to jump in front of the axe. I have a feeling Mallow and Harper will view this the same way. But now, they are just trying to comfort their dying, little friend. Don't get me wrong, he was a friend of ours, too. I just think it's best to leave his last few minutes with his own District to make him feel like he's back at home. We don't need anyone from another District trying to comfort him, reminding him where he is right now and why he died.

His canon sounds a minute later. Now Ryann and I go over to comfort our District 11 friends while Dani finishes patching up Vi. We are quietly huddled together for 15 minutes until night falls. Then we are interrupted by the anthem. I take a deep breath. This ain't going to make anything easier. Too soon if anything…

The faces begin to appear and we find out which Careers were killed when they turned on each other: Fab from 1 and Misty from 4. Then the rest follow… Kimi's face appears, then Bianka from 6. There's Boydd… Although her craziness backstabbed us all, my gut still wrenches when I see Rayven's face. Her body is lying right over there. Then, Mack appears. He's still in Harper's hands. I start crying softly again.

After a couple of more minutes, Dani comes over and says she was able to patch up Vi's wounds and we would be able to slowly make our way out of the area. Which I'm sure everyone is looking forward to do.

Then Harper and Mallow approach us.

Mallow starts, "Look, nothing against you guys. You're great. Dani, trust us, we don't blame you at all. It's just today really, and I mean really this time, opened our eyes to the harsh reality of these Games. If we stay close with you guys, we'll have to eventually turn on each other or watch someone we our close to die in front of our eyes. We don't want to experience anything like this again. I think it's best we take our separate ways now before something like this happens another time."

"It's been an honor fighting side by side with you guys, even if it only was a short while. If we die first, we'll be rooting for you," Harper finishes as she tries to finally make some light out of this situation.

With that, we say our goodbyes. And watch as they disappear down the path in front of us.

**Crazy stuff… 7 deaths in one day! It had to happen sometime. #sorrynotsorry. Just kidding, that's dumb. Here's the death list so far:**

**from the Bloodbath:**

**Shelbee Barker (7): suicide (the rest in no particular order)…**

**Brock Gibson (2): Skull smashed by Daniah**

**Katarina Thomas (2): Knifed in the back by Violette**

**Warrick Harris (2): Stabbed through the back by Ryann**

**Josefina Morales (2): Shot in the throat by Mathias**

**Bryson Brady (3): Speared by Sandrine**

**Deborah Jameson (3): Hacked away by Plush's mace**

**Brayson Neartide (4): Sliced by Harper's scythe**

**Micah Andres (5): Axed by Willow**

**Brodie Braxton (5): Beaten by Emerald's club**

**Lee Andrick (6): Knifed in the back by Glory**

**Ciara Daley (6): Neck snapped by Fab**

**Wiley Birchwood (7): Impaled by Samuel's trident**

**Emilee Gilmore (8): Hacked away by Zeke's axe**

**Markus Osterman (9): Double knifed in the back by Glory**

**Merrirose Blackbird (9): Sliced up by Plush's sword**

**Praxton Kepheart (12): Skull smashed against the ruin wall by Fab**

**Diedra Hangleton (12): Throat slit by Emerald's sword**

**The rest of the Games:**

**19- Coy Farrow (12): Clubbed to death by Emerald**

**20- Mona Briggs (9): Fall during the scenery change**

**21- Baxter Morgan (9): Fall during the scenery change**

**22- Fiona Westhill (5): Struck by Harper's scythe**

**23- Fab Monroe (1): Harpooned by Misty***

**24- Misty Everfar (4): Impaled by Plush's sword***

**25- Bianka Worryman (6): Hacked by Kimi's axe***

**26- Boydd Thromer (6): Beheaded by Kimi's axe***

**27- Kimi Sampson (5): Chopped by Rayven's weapon (ew)***

**28- Rayven Hunter (11): Shot by Mathias' arrow, struck by Harper's scythe***

**29- Mack Behring (11): Accidently axed by Daniah***

***= all were in most recent anthem **


	21. Chapter 21

**Wassup homies?! Just playin', I promise I don't really talk like that. ANYWAYS. Thanks for reading my story. Don't hate too hard! I'm nothing close to an English major, this is my first ever story, and, oh yeah, I do not own **_**The Hunger Games**_**!**

**So where were we…? Oh yeah!**

The night drags on so slowly. The heat and adrenaline pumping through our bodies from the hectic day that played out before us is now subsiding. The chill sets in. Luckily we won't have to deal with these freezing temperatures very much longer, unless the Gamemakers decide to be cruel and set us in a frozen tundra next.

Fortunately, Dani did an amazing job on Vi's wound. She really does her magic when it comes to stitching. There is still some leakage from the wound since the stitches she was using weren't the proper equipment she's been used to working with, but no blood appears to be escaping any more.

We don't dare set a fire to stay warm, we don't need to draw forth any more craziness for the day, especially for Vi's sake. We stay huddled together for warmth.

We're still sitting in silence when the sounds of beeping begin ringing through our ears.

We all jump from where we were sitting and draw our weapons. No need. To our pleasant surprise we find our second parachute….

Night vision glasses? They have a note attached to them. Ryann opens the note, looks confused, and reads it aloud: "Broken down sea shells…" I realize that notes can't have too much advice or big give-aways, but c'mon Monikka, throw us a bone here.

I try on the glasses. Nothing. I can't see any differently. I try searching for a switch on the side of them, but I don't come across anything.

"Wait a minute!" Dani shouts. "I remember seeing some Capitol citizens wearing these things. They would wear them during the day when it was bright outside. I think Conrad might have called them … sungoggles?"

"No, I'm pretty sure he said 'sunglasses'," Vi corrected.

"Alright, so this obviously must be a hint for the next arena change," I continue. " So we're looking forward to something bright and sunny apparently by the sound of this object's name. Now about the broken sea shells. The only other thing when I think about sea shells that comes to my mind is sand. So bright and sunny with sand…."

Ryann then says what's on all of our minds, "Desert." Great… from one extreme to the other.

We begin preparing for the dry, scorching conditions that tomorrow will bring. We stuff all of our canteens to the top with snow so that it can melt for us to drink.

After we think we've prepared enough and with Ryann keeping the first watch, I slowly drift off to sleep. Thinking about today's events and our friends from 11 the entire time….

Must have been a quiet night. The next thing I know I'm being awoken by Dani (must have missed the watch-shift change) informing me that the scenery is about to change.

The whiteness of the ground and sky is beginning to fade and is replaced by the empty nothingness like before. The green lines begin to connect all around us and then the first of the sandy dunes begin to appear next to us. A blast of hot air smacks against my face and we immediately begin to strip out of our winter clothes down to our original arena uniform. We shove them into our backpacks just as the blue sky finishes forming in the arena.

We must be on the highest dune in the arena because we see the rolling hills of sand stretch out for miles. A few palm trees can be seen at random points in the desert. YES. Thankfully there are small bodies of water splashed at random parts in the arena.

The mirage-like vision makes the distance seem faded and blurry, but it still looks beautiful. Then I spot a group of people a few miles away. There appears to be seven or so of them and they are traveling in a staggered pack. Huh… seems familiar. I look farther to the left and see two more people at least a mile away from them. I wonder if that's Harper and Mallow. We turn to face the other direction and see two more tributes relatively far from our positioning. We have a loner remaining still in the distance to our left and a group of three, has to be District 1, behind us to the right.

All of the tributes are too far from us for confrontation so we don't get too antsy. We calmly gather our things and head in the direction for our least dangerous threat, the lone tribute. We're not hunting or anything, it's just if we do have another confrontation, we'd rather it be with the loner than with the pack of seven or the lovely District 1ers.

After about five minutes of walking in a straight line, Dani speaks up and says what is clearly on the rest of our minds: "Yeah… I feel like we haven't gotten any closer to sea level. We haven't come across any noticeable slopes, AND I feel just as high up as before."

"Let's just keep walking. Maybe we'll come across something eventually," Vi replies.

I'm a little weary. I keep looking far into the distance ahead of us and don't notice any change in elevation.

We decide to take a break, refuel, and rest our legs. I'm careful with how much water I take in. Although the sun is beating down on us and my mouth is dry, I'm not sure how easy water will be to come across. Especially when all the visible bodies of water we can see up here are miles away.

As Vi is touching up her bandages, Ryann and I start trying to make Dani feel more comfortable. I can't help but feel that the guilt is still very much within her from what she did to Rayven, but moreso the accidental death of Mack.

How could she have foreseen any of that, though? Rayven's slowly developing insanity. Mack's leap for protecting his deranged friend. I wouldn't have guessed any of those occurrences in a million years. But maybe I'm being naïve… This is the Hunger Games after all. I need to stop thinking about it, it's making me sick, and it's just rekindling my growing hatred for the Capitol and how they change us all into monsters here.

So anyways, Ryann and I begin to tell Dani the most embarrassing things that have happened to us to lighten the mood and her avert her mind off things.

Then, in my peripherals, I see a sudden dark mass in the distance….

The Gamemakers have whipped up their first sandstorm.

It's right next to (well at least it looks like it from my distance) the pair of tributes that were relatively close to the group of seven. That's when I realize that they're trying to bring them together. Wow… some "fair" fight. I'm suddenly hoping that the two aren't Mallow and Harper. I don't know why, because they'll need to die eventually, but we just left them last night, and I feel as if it would be too soon to see them go. If it's not them, then I'm betting it's the two Careers from 4. Please be them… please be them…

We see the two ant-like shapes break out into a sprint to avoid being engulfed by the storm.

It takes a few seconds for us to feel the side effects from the storm. The wind starts picking up and blowing all of our things over. We soon pack everything and figure we need to find a big boulder or something to hide under for shelter because the residue sand will come blowing in soon.

Too late… right when we start walking, the sand comes billowing in. Luckily, we are only getting the minor affects of the storm whereas the 9 tributes in the area we were looking out on are getting the full blast. It's still painful though. The sand is pelting against our faces. I can still see the three others however, but just their outlines due to the very unclear visibility.

We trudge straight through this for a good three minutes and it's still not letting up. Dani is leading the pack and I can faintly see her outline a couple of feet in front of me.

Next thing I know, I don't see it. Her disappearance is accompanied by a scream. Her scream.

The three of us begin panicking. We can barely see each other. Let alone see where Dani went.

We start screaming her name: "Dani! Dani! DANI!"

Then… through the whistling wind we can hear a faint cry for help. She's alive. But the voice is coming below…

How could I be so stupid? How did I not think of this before? I feel like one of the brainless Careers now. We're on the highest mountain in the desert….

What were we thinking? Ha… being on high land? The largest dune in the arena… Wow…

I have no clue why this didn't cross our minds before. But no matter now, what we need to focus on is how we are going to blindly save Dani.

I call out to her again…"Dani, are you alright?!"

It takes a second, but she responds is a winded voice, "Yeah… I just got the wind knocked out of me… Nothing is broken though… I just got cut up a little by the rocks. I'm on some kind of ledge I think. Maybe a 15 foot fall… thank goodness just that. I can't really tell though. I'll be fine here until the storm subsides. After that… well… please get me the hell up."

We can't help but laugh at this. Out of relief that she's still alive. That nothing serious is wrong with her. That she's only an extended reach away.

A few more minutes pass and the storm starts clearing up. I can clearly see the edge of the cliff now where she must've slipped off. I get on my hands and knees and slowly crawl over and peak over the edge. Dizziness and fear set in. We have to be 1000s of feet in the air. The drop is straight down. I mean… District 10 isn't that hilly or mountainous… at least in my area, but I can now safely say that I'm afraid of heights. And this isn't helping any…

I look around more and see Dani pressed up against the wall of the mountain on her tiny ledge. One false movement could send her tumbling over to her certain death. She must have picked the right spot to fall… there isn't a ledge like that for another 500 something feet.

"Good to see you!" She calls up. "Now, if you don't mind, could someone please lend a hand to this damsel in distress?"

Ryann agrees to be the bottom of our human chain because apparently the tough guy isn't afraid of heights! Please... Vi and I anchor his legs at the top as we slowly lower him down. As disastrous as this could potentially be, it turns out to be far from it. We are able to hoist Dani up pretty easily. She does have a few scratches, but she still has all her things and appears to be in one piece.

We scatter away from the ledge and begin brainstorming on how we are going to approach being 1000s of feet in the air and away from every body of water. "We could try finding a cave up here. Maybe some moisture has collected inside of it and formed puddles…" Vi offers.

We realize that this might be our best and only option we have… I mean let's face it… we're pretty desperate and vulnerable up here. Vulnerability. It's scary to think about. The Gamemakers could easily cause a sand avalanche (a sandalanche?) with one swoop of their fingers, sending all four of us to our deaths. They could put a sandstorm directly on top of us leaving us nowhere to escape. Heck… we are already almost killing ourselves without their intervention.

Well… it's best not to think about this right now. Fear doesn't help you in the Games. Showing it will clear out your sponsors… feeling it will make you even more vulnerable.

I decide to survey the field of tributes again. Hoooooooold up… well the sandstorm sure as hell worked. The two groups of tributes appear to be face to face from my field of vision.

I motion the other three over to watch what's about to unfold… the group of two may be Harper and Mallow…

Suddenly, one of the dots in the group of two dashes forward… he/she must have seen the big group. A very faint object goes flying from the sprinting dot and seems to make contact with one member of the group of seven because I'm pretty sure I see the ground get darker with blood. The BOOM of the cannon reassures my suspicions. The group of… six now… take a second to react, then begin charging toward their assailants.

My gut twists into a knot thinking that it may be Harper and Mallow being outnumbered by the group of six tributes. No matter how strong those two are, there's no way that they could come out alive.

Sure enough three dots from the group of six surround one dot from the other group, and the three others surround the other. Let the battle begin.

A good two minutes pass and they are still at it strong. Vi and Dani must have better vision than Ryann and I because they keep gasping at random moments. They can't tell who the tributes are or what they look like, but they are pretty sure that the group of two includes a boy and a girl. That doesn't say much since both groups of two we were considering has a boy and girl.

They do however say that the tribute fighting the group of three on the right is the girl and the one on the left is the boy.

They are giving us their best play by play of what the girl is doing to defend herself when we are surprised by the BOOM of the cannon. Sure enough to the left, the group of three is encircling the dead tribute on the ground before them.

The girl fighting the other group of three escapes their confinement and runs over to the other three. Suddenly the ground is getting darker once more and another cannon fires. Holy cow… what did she do? The remaining five tributes from the group surround the girl and we soon hear the final cannon of the battle.

The four of us don't say much after what we just saw. We sit there in silence for awhile watching the group of five clear out from the scene. Out of nowhere, the wind starts picking up and a low rumbling sound echoes above us. GREAT. Another sandstorm.

Thankfully I'm wrong. It's the hovercraft flying directly over our heads. When I say directly… I mean directly. Conflabbit… it's huge. The sand is swirling around us as the propellers are rapidly spinning to keep the thing airborne. It finally reaches its destination and drops its claw one, two, three, four times. I keep picturing Mallow and Harper going up in that claw, but we'll only be able to tell for sure at the anthem tonight.

Now that they cleared out, the aftermath scene looks pretty gruesome. Even from here. Most of the surviving five had to have gotten injured too because it's way too messy for only four deaths.

Enough of this… we gather our stuff and go back to our original search for water.

We must have not been looking too hard before we were looking for caves, because after 5 minutes of searching, I find a dark hole in the side of a wall of rock and sand.

I enter first and, within the first few steps, find myself splashing in a puddle. Jackpot!

"Come on in, guys! The water is plenty!" I call.

We drink all the water in our canisters, refill them in the puddles, drink them again, and refill them all once more. Halle-freaking-lujah. My tongue is actually wet now.

We begin splashing our faces and bodies with the cold, refreshing water. Who would've thought we would find paradise in a desert cave?!

I'm back in District 10. The hot summers brought us little rain, so when it did, we made good use of it while we enjoyed it on our time off of work. I mainly jumped in puddles to annoy Damien, Dani, or Vi, but splashing around in them was equally as satisfying.

Ouch!… my happy thoughts are broken when Dani backs up onto me and steps on my fingers. The light from the cave entrance reflects on her face and shows complete terror and fear. I shoot my gaze into the direction she's looking.

There staring at the four of us is the biggest pair of yellow eyes I've ever seen. The eyes belong to something much larger than any of us. Much larger than the four of us put together. The horror… as if it couldn't get any bigger… grows when I see that they aren't just a normal mammalian-like eyes.

They're snake eyes.


	22. Chapter 22

**Thank you for the reviews! I appreciate both criticism and praise. Obviously everyone isn't going to like this story, but for those of you that do, that's great too! P.S. I don't own no **_**Hunger Games**_**.**

Back home, we take a type of zoology class in school. Who woulda thunk it, right? The Livestock District learning about animals?! Mind blowing fact, right there.

Well one day we were learning about various species of snakes: which ones were poisonous, which ones were common in our District, etc. I remember this vividly because I've always been freaked out by the little beasts.

We mainly covered rattlesnakes. We learned how they rattle their tale when they are threatened, how they try to camouflage with their surroundings, and, oh yeah, how they are very poisonous.

Right now… I only wish we were dealing with a rattlesnake. No… this is something much more monstrous. We briefly covered boa constrictors and pythons. HA! Those runts got nothing on this. To put it in simpler terms: this thing could swallow us whole with the flick of its tongue.

My reactions are rapid and swift. I grab my bow and load an arrow. But I'm shaking so much in fear that while I was aiming for the center of its head, I hit it right in its left eye. I don't kick myself too much with the miss because I still hit a vital part on its body that will for sure slow it down.

It obviously doesn't like this, it squirms its upper body, twists back, and flings its tail at us. Its massive tail makes contact with all four of our stomachs and we are sent flying through the cave entrance/exit and back out into the desert.

We are all trying to collect our breaths. I've never had the wind knocked out of me this bad before. I may even have a fractured rib.

As I'm gasping for air, the beast shoots out of the mouth of the cave. I'm finally able to get a good look at it. It's just as gigantic as I feared. Black and brown slimy scales coat its 20 foot long body. Its body is about as tall and wide as the cars I've seen in the Capitol. Its foot long fangs hang out of its mouth. I swear… if it's poisonous… that just wouldn't be fair. Ha! Fairness… Get over it, Mathias.

Right as it tries to come down and lash out on Ryann, he's able to roll out of the way. Now it turns to me… I'm somehow able to catch my breath, hop up on my feet, and dive out of the way just as its fang scraps the back of my pants.

Vi has just gotten to her feet and draws out a knife from her collection. She takes aim at its head and flings it. It looks like it's going to be a direct hit when the knife just bounces off its skin and falls back in front of her feet.

You've got to be kidding me… the bird beasts were another story. Although they were quick and agile, they were defeatable. This. Well this is far worse than I feared. The snake flicks it tail at Vi again to send her flying back again. Luckily she's expecting it this time, so she braces herself to prevent further damage.

I try an arrow. Nothing. Dani gets up and flings one of her axes. Nothing. Ryann sneaks up behind it and tries slicing it with his sword. The blade goes about a half an inch into its scales and then pops right out, no signs of blood escape from the "wound." This is it. We're trapped. There is no escaping from this.

Now we've done it… the snake is extremely riled up from our attempted attacks. It's lashing out on us in (what seems like) never-ending cycles. It's somehow able to do one thing with its mouth and another with its tail at the same time, so we have two things to worry about the entire time.

In between assaults, Ryann yells "The Cave! We need to barricade it in there somehow!"

I look around the cave entrance and see large boulders that we can… wait a sec, it's my turn to dodge the tail… where was I? Oh yes, we can block off the entrance with them. But we need someone small to lure it inside and trap it there while we pile up the boulders.

I run over to Dani while Ryann and Vi distract the beast. Vi is the smallest, but since she's still slightly impaired from Rayven's attack, I don't want to send her through that. "Dani, we need you to pull out all of your methods of distraction. You just need to lure it into the cave while we block the entrance out with boulders. We'll leave a tiny hole for you to crawl out through. Do you think you can handle it?"

"Please… that's cake. I've had to distract our patients back home while my Mom and Dad had to amputate their legs. This will be a walk in the park," she replies.

I thought Vi was hard boned, but Dani is a lot tougher than I thought. These Games have definitely proven that. Heck, she even volunteered for them.

We turn around to see the snake's fangs digging into the back of Ryann's leg. It doesn't look too deep from here, but it does draw blood a lot of blood and cause him to scream out.

Dani runs behind the snake, grabs a boulder, and smashes it down on the end of its tail. The beast doesn't like this. It lets out a long, low hiss and flings around to face Dani, knocking the three of us off our feet once more.

Vi and I land in a sand pile, Ryann isn't so lucky. The back of his head hits a rock and a welt the size of an apple appears on his head. He's alive, but he's out cold. Dani goes plummeting into the cave entrance and the snake soon follows.

Without Ryann and with an ailing Vi, this boulder laying process is going to be much more difficult.

I'm not really sure what is happening inside the cave. I can hear Dani grunt and groan every once in a while. I take whenever the snake hisses to be a good sign. I wonder what she's doing to evade the beast's lethal strikes.

I doubt that it's poisonous or else Ryann would be near dead right now since it got him a little in the leg. I can still see the steady rise and fall in his chest to signify his slow and controlled breathing.

We're making good progress on the man made cave-in. Vi is handling the smaller boulders while I get the bigger workload. Inside the cave, Dani lets out a loud scream.

"Dani! Dani! Is everything okay?!" Vi urges.

"Yep!...Yep!... just… carrying all… the load… here!"

She sounds extremely winded. I'm not sure how long she can last and by the looks of it, I'm out of boulders. As if Dani knows our predicament, I hear some rolling around in the cave and a giant thud against the cave wall, probably due to the snake running into it. That'll do it.

Not only did more boulders fall from the top of the cave, but they contributed to our pile at the cave entrance.

Dani lets out another scream ,"Aaaaaaaaaagh! I…. hate… scorpions!"

Vi and I can't control our laughter. Here Dani is facing a giant snake, yet her biggest fear is getting attacked by a scorpion.

Voilá! The last boulder is in place with just a big enough hole for Dani to fit through. "Dani! Come on up!"

In a matter of seconds, a pair of hands appears where the hole is and it takes the rest of Vi and I's strength to pull her up and out of it. She could look worse. She has a bloody nose, a gash down her arm, and a bunch of scrapes here and there, but we did it. We conquered the snake just as Ryann is coming to his senses.

"Oh wow! Nice of you to help!" I shout harassingly. "Hey, hey… I feel like I'd be more useful taking a nap. Owwww… that thing sure packs a punch," he responds slowly.

We decide to walk a ways to clear out the area so we can touch-up our new wounds. We're about an hour to night fall when I realize how physically exhausted we all are. The snake, the blazing sun, the physical labor. We desperately need to rest.

BAM! I'm praying it's the sound of the cannon. Oooof course not… our little (ha!) friend has burst through the rocks for more fun.

I see way too much of the whites of my friends' eyes as I would like, so I think of the only plausible plan I have left and begin to plea that he isn't fast due to his size.

"Follow the snake!" Is all I get out to the other three before I load an arrow, launch it into its other, undamaged eye, and take off running for the edge of the mountain. The same one from earlier today.

I haven't run this fast since the first day at the Cornucopia. Maybe it just seems like I am since I'm running in sand (which is slowing me down greatly) and I'm dead tired. Either way, it takes about 30 seconds for the snake to catch up to me. If I can just avoid getting eaten alive for 30 more seconds and reach the edge, I should be able to carry out my plan.

I run in a zigzag pattern to do my best to evade his fangs that are lashing out onto me. I even have to dive and roll a few times because he comes too close to me for comfort. Then, _riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiip_, one of his fangs dig into my pants and tears into the back of my calf. I would be severely pissed off by this if it wasn't for the fact that the ledge was a few feet from me.

His strike knocked me off my feet, so I'm slowly backing up to the ledge. There's no way it can see the ledge since he's blinded. All of his other senses are focused on me, so if there's some way he can sense a change in elevation, it's directed on me, not the 1000 foot drop off.

He's preparing to strike. That's my cue. I push off from the ledge and fall off the cliff onto the ledge just as the beast comes shooting at me. As I lay on the same ledge Dani fell on before, I watch the never ending body of the snake fling directly over my eyes and go plummeting into the abyss below. I did it.

Just as I sit up, his tail clears the ledge whacks me in the face, and sends me rolling over the ledge. My sweaty hands grip the end of the cliff just before I fall to my death.

As the snake is falling, I realize that I'm screwed if he falls onto a bed of rocks. It will certainly cause a… sandalance… and I will be one of the first to go down.

He must fall onto sand because the thud is quiet and harmless. No matter… what really matters is the slightly decreasing grip I have on the cliff. I try to hoist myself up, but I'm way too weak from lifting the boulders and outrunning the snake.

Then, I hear a thud vibrating through the ledge I'm on and find a familiar face smiling down on me. "Need a little help there?" he jokes. "I swear, Ryann. This isn't funny. Get me up, now!" I snap back, truly afraid for my life.

"Calm your chickens. Okay ready… one, two, three." And with that he hoists me back onto the ledge. We lay there for a second, trying to catch our breath when we see the girls' faces appear 15 feet above us. "Here, lift me up first. I'm lighter, and I can help you with Ryann." I say.

"Are you calling me fat?" "Are you calling us weak?" Ryann and the girls say respectively and simultaneously.

"Ugh… let's get a move on."

Although it's a bit of a struggle, Dani is able to anchor Vi down to grab me and lift me up. We do the same to fetch Ryann.

Now all four of us are lying down catching our breath and laughing at the ridiculousness of what we just had to deal with: a mumbo jumbo, quick, impenetrable snake with foot long fangs. Our laughing dies down when we realize it's nightfall and that the anthem is about to play.

We sit up so we can see clearly. Here it comes, the moment of truth for the fates of our District 11 pals. The anthem starts and the seal of Panem appears.

Now the faces begin to appear: The last Boy from District 3… the nice one, can't remember his name. The next faces that appear finalize the suspicions and release the knots in our stomachs… Sandrine and Samuel the brother-sister pair from District 4. Well… two less Careers we have to deal with. The last face is Skip (I remember his name because I thought it was funny) from District 8.

We all seem a little more cheery after the anthem. It may be due to the fact that our friends are still alive, that we just defeated a monster snake, or maybe even that we're still alive at this point in the Games. Either way… we bandage ourselves up, drink our water, eat some leftovers from the day before, and all fall into a peaceful sleep since we're the only ones up here and it's doubtful that the Gamemakers are in need of another muttation attack after all the excitement today brought.

**Hey, hey! Hopefully none of the recent deaths resulted in the closing act of your favorite Tribute! If it did, that's weird because you really didn't know anything about them. Anyways (I say that a lot, don't I?), here's the updated death list:**

**from the Bloodbath:**

**Shelbee Barker (7): suicide (the rest in no particular order)…**

**Brock Gibson (2): Skull smashed by Daniah**

**Katarina Thomas (2): Knifed in the back by Violette**

**Warrick Harris (2): Stabbed through the back by Ryann**

**Josefina Morales (2): Shot in the throat by Mathias**

**Bryson Brady (3): Speared by Sandrine**

**Deborah Jameson (3): Hacked away by Plush's mace**

**Brayson Neartide (4): Sliced by Harper's scythe**

**Micah Andres (5): Axed by Willow**

**Brodie Braxton (5): Beaten by Emerald's club**

**Lee Andrick (6): Knifed in the back by Glory**

**Ciara Daley (6): Neck snapped by Fab**

**Wiley Birchwood (7): Impaled by Samuel's trident**

**Emilee Gilmore (8): Hacked away by Zeke's axe**

**Markus Osterman (9): Double knifed in the back by Glory**

**Merrirose Blackbird (9): Sliced up by Plush's sword**

**Praxton Kepheart (12): Skull smashed against the ruin wall by Fab**

**Diedra Hangleton (12): Throat slit by Emerald's sword**

**The rest of the Games:**

**19- Coy Farrow (12): Clubbed to death by Emerald**

**20- Mona Briggs (9): Fall during the scenery change**

**21- Baxter Morgan (9): Fall during the scenery change**

**22- Fiona Westhill (5): Struck by Harper's scythe**

**23- Fab Monroe (1): Harpooned by Misty**

**24- Misty Everfar (4): Impaled by Plush's sword**

**25- Bianka Worryman (6): Hacked by Kimi's axe**

**26- Boydd Thromer (6): Beheaded by Kimi's axe**

**27- Kimi Sampson (5): Chopped by Rayven's weapon (ew)**

**28- Rayven Hunter (11): Shot by Mathias' arrow, struck by Harper's scythe**

**29- Mack Behring (11): Accidently axed by Daniah**

**30-Skip Zucker (8): Speared by Sandrine***

**31-Samuel O'Hare (4): Stabbed by Rurik***

**32- Rurik Johannsen (3): Beheaded by Sandrine***

**33- Sandrine O'Hare (4): Stabbed by Esmeralda***

***= all were in most recent anthem**


	23. Chapter 23

**Wassup, wassup?! Not much to say right now other than… I do not own **_**The Hunger Games**_**!**

This might be the first night in the arena that my dreams aren't plagued with nightmares. I'm back home with my sisters, playing on one of our days off of work. We would chase each other around on our two acres of land while our parents watched in the backyard.

We were free from the watchful eye of stingy and forceful Peacekeepers. I would purposefully let them catch me, you know, me being the best brother in the world and all… I needed to keep it fair. This would entertain us for hours upon hours. A real treat would be if Damien, Dani, and Vi stopped by to help me entertain them. I'm interrupted briefly by a sudden gust of wind accompanying the crisp, cool air.

I roll over in the grass to try and make myself more comfortable, and I try to continue the same dream. So I'm chasing Jordyn and we both trip into a mud pit and start rolling around and laughing when… WAIT A SECOND. Grass? Cool air? DAMNIT! We slept through the scenery change! For all I know we could be laying in the middle of an open field for all the tributes to see!

I spring awake and quickly observe my surroundings. No sign of attackers. I check the other three. Still sound asleep, those lazy hicks.

I finally take the scenery in. We're on a breathtaking mountain-side that stretches out for miles upon miles. I can see about seven other mountain peaks other than ours all in a very close proximity. There are very few trees to conceal us, but there are several patches of tall, beautifully green grass in sight so that I'm not too worried. Several beautiful butterflies and dragonflies are constantly being attracted to the plentiful flowers surrounding us.

It truly is beautiful. And all the green is completely opposite from yesterday's arena!

I'm still in a trance of the beauty when I begin to feel the ground shaking underneath me. I begin to panic because I think it's going to be an earthquake, but the ground isn't splitting open or shaking too violently.

I shake it off and start searching for edible plants. I walk about 100 feet away from my friends when I hear the explosion. Try sleeping through that one, you guys.

I'm immediately knocked off my feet and go rolling down a small hill until I run smack right into a boulder.

I'm struggling to get up after realizing that I got the wind knocked out of me. I finally collect myself and try to look for the cause of the explosion. Yeah… that wasn't too hard to find.

The gorgeous, serene, mountain-plentiful background has transformed into a smoky, fiery disaster. Luckily, the eruption happened on the farthest mountain peak from us. Since we're on the eighth mountain in the chain, the eruption coming from the first mountain isn't really going to affect us other than those initial tremors.

The rocks only seem to be blasting as far as the third mountain, so we definitely seem to be clear to avoid hiding from the disaster. I just can't believe none of the tributes have died yet… Oh oops. Tributes. My friends. Yeah… I probably should go make sure they are okay and all in one place!

I dash uphill to find them still in one place, but dazed and disoriented. "Whaaa- wha's goin' on…?" Ryann mumbles out as he's lazily trying to wake himself up. Vi and Dani both jump with a start when they see the monster destruction taking place in the background. "Maaaathias… what did you do that for?!" Dani jokes, referring to the volcano eruption.

"Sorry! I couldn't keep control of my undenying power and awesomeness."

The three of them let out a chuckle accompanied with an eye roll. We then move on to find nearby shelter because we are getting a little bit of the residue ash and smoke from the eruption. As we collect some non-ash covered edible plants along the way, we pick off as many animals as we can see, because by the time the eruption ends, all the grass will be covered with ash and the animals will be scared away. So much for a beautiful scenery… I'm beginning to think that the Gamemakers didn't want to take out any of the Tributes since there has been so much action recently, they just wanted to show they were still very much in control.

As we settle into a little… umm… I wouldn't necessarily call it a cave, but an… indentation (if you will) we found in the mountain, Ryann jokes, "Thanks, Monikka! It would've been very helpful to know that we were being sent into a destructive mountain side of Hell!"

As we're all laughing at this, I decide to stick up for her and say, "Well, we have to realize it does take a lot of money and time to send items for four of us. Plus I highly doubt they were told the arena would transform into a disaster. I'm actually surprised they even know the arena changes in the first place!"

The rest of the day is relatively quiet. The eruption ends about an hour after it starts, and I was right when I guessed that the plants would be covered in ash. We're eating meals of fresh berries and these radish-looking vegetables and cooked rabbit (we decided the smoke from our fire would be easily concealed with the smoke billowing from the volcano) and some wild bird.

We talk, relax, and share stories up until the anthem. Yep. No deaths today. Now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure this is the first day that no Tributes have died. I guess that's not too unusual since there is double the amount of us. Then, it gets me thinking about how many people are truly left. Let's see… the three lone Careers from One, how many from Three… 1? I think there are two from Seven and Eight each. All from 10, holla! Our two friends from 11. And there must be one left from 12… that makes 15 Tributes left! 11 more that we have to worry about. That number is eerily low…

I try not to harp on it too much and try to "enjoy" the rest of the quiet day. And it is just that. Quiet. At peace. Almost nice. I'm sitting in silence with my friends when Dani starts, "Alright, I'll take the first watch. Ya'll should get some rest."

My dreams are sweet due to the unproductive, quiet day. They don't last forever though. I'm woken up by Ryann to start my watch shift.

The night air is chilly and crisp. It feels great on my recently sunburned skin from the arena yesterday. In the distance, some kind of owl is having a conversation with his friend, a wolf howls at the moon. The night sky is absolutely beautiful. I can pinpoint the position of every star in the dark abyss.

I'm picking out the constellations that I have learned in my science classes back home. Oh look! There's – "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" The scream rattles the arena.

My three companions sit up with a start. Normally, we wouldn't act if we heard such a thing, but the scream was waaaaay too close for us not to move.

We sprint out into the open. And we see the river separating us and the nearest mountain about 100 yards away. And that's when we see her. Well… the back of her.

There she is. The little girl from 12. And she's being cornered against the river by a pack of five tributes. My guess is the ones that took on the Careers from 4. I can get a better look at them now that they have stepped into the moonlight. It's Willow and Zeke from 7. Rageanne and the twelve year old from 8. And finally the lone Tribute/Girl from 3. Dani starts the dash to our side of the river before anyone can object.

Well… it looks like we're preparing for another battle!


	24. Chapter 24

**Sorry for the anti-climatic last Chapter! Can't be killing people every chapter. What am I, heartless? Psh… anyways. ONCE AGAIN… I don't own **_**The Hunger Games**_**.**

….

Dani and I reach the river at the same time. Ryann and Vi are close to follow. The water is shallow enough to walk through, but the current nearly knocks us over.

Don't ask me why we are trying to save this girl. I guess that I've sympathized with her from the beginning. She's so little and from a poor District. It almost seems criminal to hurt her.

We barrel out of the water, when I find that we have finally attracted the five attackers' attentions. All I can do is hit the deck and yell, "Dive!" before Willow's axe goes whizzing over my head. I don't have time to turn around and see if it made contact with anyone, but since a cannon hasn't sounded yet, I take it that it missed.

We reach the Girl from 12 and form a line of defense around her. "Awwww…. Look what we have here. The hill-billies from 10 have come to the rescue," Zeke teases. "Yeah, how about you four just move over so we can finish what we started," the Girl from 3 adds.

"We can't let you do that. C'mon, five against one? Yeah, that's real fair," Ryann objects. "Yeah, us HILL-BILLIES are ready to tussell and make this fight an evenly matched one," Vi contributes in her best southern drawl.

"Alright… if it's a fight you want. It's a fight you will very much get," says the Boy from 8.

Dani quickly tosses one of her battle axes to the little Girl from 12 and we get this show on the road.

I crash into Zeke and knock him into the ground. My fist makes contact with his face. I look up and see our new friend from 12 taking on the equally tiny boy from 8. She's actually pretty handy with that axe, that one. Ryann is doing his best to deal with Rageanne, who I remember from training is actually a formidable opponent. Vi is flinging knives while dodging axes from Willow. Dani is on top of the Girl from 3 and trying to keep her down enough to carry out a lethal blow. It's amazing how violent we get when we need to be… Scary, actually.

Right as I strike Zeke in the face again, he knees me in the stomach. This gets me off him! Now he's on top of me with his axe at the ready. He brings it down, but I roll over, and it barely grazes my shoulder. While he's getting it unstuck from the ground, I get up and launch an arrow at him but he reads the attack and dives on the ground next to his axe.

I charge at him with one of my knives and he yanks his axe out of the ground and flings it at me. This misses me again, but I hear impact somewhere behind me. Can't worry about that now… I'm able to get him in the calf with my knife.

Just then, the landscape starts flashing. No! Not now! The scenery is changing and the ground appears in its green and pixilated appearance. While we're distracted by it, the group we were fighting, knowing very well they were losing the battle jumps into the river behind us. Zeke isn't so lucky. He's farther away from the river than his group. With his newly injured leg, he tries to jump through us. He actually almost makes it when Ryann, who is on the ground for some reason, swings up his sword right into his stomach. His cannon sounds seconds later.

I'm about to jump in after them when I realize Ryann is groaning on the ground. He was the one who caught impact of Zeke's missed throw on me. Luckily, it's in his left shoulder and nowhere vital. Unfortunately, he seems to be in a lot of pain. Of course… it's near the area where Glory got him in the Bloodbath.

Dani immediately breaks open her med kit and begins to work on Ryann's re-opened wound just as the arena settles in. It's another cold one. Looks like a frozen tundra… Great. We're sitting on a bed of thick, solid ice, so at least Ryann's wound can be numbed by it while controlling the swelling.

While Dani's at work. Vi and I get to know our newly acquired ally. Her name is Rosagrace, but goes by Rose. I'm very surprised when she tells me she's 14, she looks like she could be 12. Then she goes into her depiction of the Games.

"Well… Diedra died protecting me at the Cornucopia."( I remember her… she was by far the strongest Tribute from 12 during training.) "She pushed me out of the way just as Emerald from 1 attacked her. I took the loss really hard. We were supposed to meet up with the other Tributes from my District on the right side of the Tribute pedestal ring, but I was too distracted over Diedra sacrificing herself for me that I completely spaced it… If only I hadn't, maybe Coy would still be alive." (Oh yeah, he's the one we saw die the first night) "So I learned the first night that Praxton didn't make it out of the Bloodbath, and Coy died sometime either in the first night or second day, so I've been stuck all by myself. Somehow surviving off of scraps of food. Good thing I'm used to starving back home."

I can't help but feel guilt after her story. I know Vi feels the same. That we just sat and watched as her District partner was murdered by the pack of Careers. So, I go on to tell her about the first night. My voice trails off near the end…

"So that's who died on the first night. Oh don't worry! I'm not bitter! Taking on seven Careers would've practically been suicide. Besides, it's been five days. I'm okay now."

I feel like I'm going to like this girl. She reminds me of my sisters. Just the way she carries herself and her powerful strength and determination to survive these past few days by herself.

We decide to bundle back up in our winter gear when I realize that Rose has none. Then… I remember I have Mack's from before. I pull it out, and it's a perfect fit. Her little frame much closely matches his. The sight and memories of her in Mack's clothes chokes me up and brings tears to Vi's eyes. I miss that kid and his playfulness so much. Even after our short time together…

Just as we finish bundling her up, Dani comes over with Ryann. We see that she made some kind of sling for him to support his arm. We pull out their winter gear from Dani's pack and hand it to them.

"Well you've looked better!" I harass Ryann. "Thanks! Bet I still look better than you." Ryann snaps back.

I'm glad to see our playful and sarcastic relationships with each other brings a smile on Rose's face. "You guys remind me of me and my three siblings back home!" she cries happily.

We finally clear out of the area so that the hovercraft can retrieve Zeke's body.

Another quiet day plays out after our little battle. Rose somehow knows how to ice fish, so she keeps us entertained with her mastering of the trade. We are able to enjoy a nice, pleasant meal from her haul. We light a fire in a cave we find and spend the rest of the day fashioning ourselves an igloo.

The igloo helps tremendously keeping us warm. We share more stories and learn about each other's Districts. Now that we know about both 11 and 12, I can't help to feel more cultured. Us poor Districts gotta stick together!

When the anthem starts, we all peek outside of our poorly shaped igloo entrance (Hey, none of us are professional architects here!) and look up into the sky, even though we know what to expect. Sure enough, Zeke from 7's face is the only one to appear.

The anthem ends and we arrange ourselves in the igloo for sleep. Rose says she'll take the first watch to make up for saving her life today. We agree and let our exhaustion get the best of us.

…

Rose must have stayed up all night because next thing I know, I wake up in a warm, humid, sweaty state. I can smell fresh fruit, and the flowers are plentiful and exotic. I can hear the waves crashing in the distance. The animal noises are loud and foreign. We have entered a tropical paradise.

By the looks of it, we're about 300 yards away from the crystal clear water. Salt water most likely. The scenery looks just like the 75th Games… With an exception. Where the Victors in the 75th Games had to drill their water out of trees, we have a fresh water stream right next to where we're standing. Hey… they have to be lenient with us with the constantly changing arena!

I strip out of my warm clothing and refill the water bottles and decide to go hunting for some game so I can surprise the other three for a nice breakfast. Rose stops me before I can get too far and claims that she wants to join me.

It isn't difficult to start up a conversation with her. We start talking about our home Districts again. I start telling her about my sisters. I continue with how they would get along so well. She goes on about this place back home called "The Hob" and how she does a lot of trading there.

She tells me that it was destroyed before the District was fire-bombed by the Capitol after the 75th Games, but it was rebuilt upon request by Katniss Everdeen once everyone was settled after the Rebels came out victorious over the Capitol. Well… the building still stands, but the Rebels are no longer victorious ever since District 13 was officially obliterated.

We spot our first animal. It appears to be some wild turkey looking thing. Rose still has the axe that Dani gave her during our fight with the other group. Instantly, she flings it at the bird, beheading it.

I gaze at her in awe. I feel like she left the part about her being a ruthless hunter out during her description of herself yesterday. She gives me the "oops, ya caught me" look accompanied with a shy grin. I spot another one close by and take it down with one arrow. We continue to clean the bird and pluck its feathers and take it back to camp.

We aren't afraid to set a fire since the woods is so dense that no one would be able to see through the trees. And since there is no beach near the water, the only way someone will be able to see it is if he or she is wading around in the water. I'm so hungry that I'm willing to take this risk.

The smell of the birds wakes the other three up. They get cranky at me since I didn't wake them up and let them sleep till afternoon. Plus they're all drenched in sweat because they are still in their winter clothes. They finally get out of their warm gear, and Dani proceeds to change Ryann's bandages.

We end up enjoying our nice little lunch accompanied with the fresh plants from the mountain arena. While we're finishing our last few bites of lunch. Rose says that she wants to go for a swim and asks if anyone wants to join. We politely decline, especially since Vi and Ryann still aren't the best swimmers, and we tell her to shout if she needs us.

When she's clear out of sight, Vi says, "Ugh… I don't like her at all."

"But she's such a sweetheart!" Dani objects.

"Exactly my point. She's too nice! It's sickening," Vi finishes. We laugh at her snarkiness and tease her some more. "Well I think she's pretty helpful. She's got to be if she's survived this long by herself," Ryann adds.

"Yeah! You should've seen her while we were hunting. She cleared the head right off of the bird," I defend.

We're putting out our campfire when Rose comes bounding through the jungle and exclaims, "Guys! Guys! The water is great! You HAVE GOT to join me!" Then with that she turns around and bounds right back through the jungle back to the water.

"Fine. Let's go just to shut her up!" Vi replies, clearly annoyed. "Oh come on, it'll at least humor her!" Ryann says back.

We begin our few hundred yard trek through the hot and humid jungle. We're dodging roots, vines, trees, you name it. At least it's not poisonous snakes. Or ones like our little friend in the desert!

We're finally nearing the edge of the jungle where it meets the water when Rose reappears with a smile on her face.

We're about 50 feet away from her when I notice it. Her hair. It's dry. Completely dry. Then I look a the rest of her body. There is absolutely no trace of her being in the ocean on any of her little frame.

She must see that I'm realizing this, and her smile turns into an evil grin. Before I can react and yell at my friends to run, she pulls out her axe and chops the vine nearest her. We're instantly yanked off our feet into the air so that our bodies are dangling right in front of her in the tangling arms of her masterful snare.

**from the Bloodbath:**

**Shelbee Barker (7): suicide (the rest in no particular order)…**

**Brock Gibson (2): Skull smashed by Daniah**

**Katarina Thomas (2): Knifed in the back by Violette**

**Warrick Harris (2): Stabbed through the back by Ryann**

**Josefina Morales (2): Shot in the throat by Mathias**

**Bryson Brady (3): Speared by Sandrine**

**Deborah Jameson (3): Hacked away by Plush's mace**

**Brayson Neartide (4): Sliced by Harper's scythe**

**Micah Andres (5): Axed by Willow**

**Brodie Braxton (5): Beaten by Emerald's club**

**Lee Andrick (6): Knifed in the back by Glory**

**Ciara Daley (6): Neck snapped by Fab**

**Wiley Birchwood (7): Impaled by Samuel's trident**

**Emilee Gilmore (8): Hacked away by Zeke's axe**

**Markus Osterman (9): Double knifed in the back by Glory**

**Merrirose Blackbird (9): Sliced up by Plush's sword**

**Praxton Kepheart (12): Skull smashed against the ruin wall by Fab**

**Diedra Hangleton (12): Throat slit by Emerald's sword**

**The rest of the Games:**

**19- Coy Farrow (12): Clubbed to death by Emerald**

**20- Mona Briggs (9): Fall during the scenery change**

**21- Baxter Morgan (9): Fall during the scenery change**

**22- Fiona Westhill (5): Struck by Harper's scythe**

**23- Fab Monroe (1): Harpooned by Misty**

**24- Misty Everfar (4): Impaled by Plush's sword**

**25- Bianka Worryman (6): Hacked by Kimi's axe**

**26- Boydd Thromer (6): Beheaded by Kimi's axe**

**27- Kimi Sampson (5): Chopped by Rayven's weapon (ew)**

**28- Rayven Hunter (11): Shot by Mathias' arrow, struck by Harper's scythe**

**29- Mack Behring (11): Accidently axed by Daniah**

**30-Skip Zucker (8): Speared by Sandrine**

**31-Samuel O'Hare (4): Stabbed by Rurik**

**32- Rurik Johannsen (3): Beheaded by Sandrine**

**33- Sandrine O'Hare (4): Stabbed by Esmeralda**

**34- Zeke Lees (7): Stomach sliced by Ryann***

***= he was in most recent anthem**


End file.
